The latest word on the street is that Universal is banning full-length tracks from being used on Myspace. All Universal artists are now required to switch to 90 second song samples instead.
The news came from a message sent by Colbie Caillat to her fans:
Hey everyone…bad news. Due to circumstances beyond my control I have to swap the songs out on my page for 90 second versions instead of full length versions. In fact some of the songs have already been swapped as I write this.
Every artist signed to a Universal label has to comply immediately.
You can listen to full versions of some of my songs on my personal webpage www.colbiecaillatmusic.com. I will make sure that the songs that were available here are available there as soon as possible.
I apologize to everyone for the inconvenience especially those that use my songs for personal profiles. Hopefully the politics involved here gets worked out soon and we can return to full length songs as soon as possible. Thank you everyone for your continued support!!
Now I understand copyright policies and illegal downloads, but we’re talking a few songs in a streaming player on Myspace. Streaming full songs brings in more visitors, and the average Myspace user won’t be illegally downloading these songs off of Myspace’s servers. (Although it’s certainly possible.) So what’s the big deal?
I’m betting the “politics involved here” deal with some disagreement between Universal and News Corp over some corporate crap.
But if not, could this be the beginning of the end for Universal? Or worse, the end of free music on Myspace?
