MySpace & Imeem to Bands: Yr Fucked!

It's right here in black and white: acquisition pointedly, though legally, does not include provision to do the right thing and compensate musicians for moneys owed.

By Fred Mills

In one of the more fascinating stories to come over the newswire over the weekend, the Wired.com editorial "MySpace/Imeem Deal Leaves Thousands of Artists Unpaid" is definitely the most eye-catching one. Provocative, too - in a resoundingly depressing manner.

Reporting on the recent deal struck between MySpace and Imeem (Imeem basically ran out of money and MySpace scooped it up at firesale prices), Wired.com notes that the deal pointedly did "not include Imeem's liability to more than 110,000 independent artists with Snocap storefronts" when MySpace purchased its assets.

Writes Wired.com, citing an unnamed source close to the situation:

"Those artists' contracts mandate they be paid each month if they're owed more than $20. Some artists have been owed money for more than a year, and the chance of them seeing any money now is, for all intents and purposes, zero.

"Artists attempting to get paid for songs sold through Snocap stores - many or most of which were on MySpace itself - must get in line with Imeem's bank and other creditors. MySpace Music paid less than $1 million for Imeem, so it's doubtful much will remain for the artists."

Basically, then, if you're a musician who hasn't settled your account with Imeem, you're fucked.

MySpace, responding to the Wired.com editorial, defended itself in a statement, writing, "MySpace Music bought a limited set of Imeem's assets including the domain name and certain technology and trademarks. The asset sale to MySpace Music was part of a foreclosure process which resulted from the lien certain secured creditors had on all the assets of Imeem. MySpace Music did not acquire Imeem's outstanding debts, including the money Imeem owed to artists under the Snocap relationship.... MySpace Music has its own distribution platform, which includes relationships with prominent aggregators and indie labels, that provides indie artists ways to monetize their music on our site."

Well, this all speaks for itself. It's always a grand day when the big guys can use legalities and loopholes to avoid doing the ethically right thing and stomp on the little guys - in this instance, all the musicians out there reading this right now. Maybe even those same musicians who are rethinking their current and future business relationships with MySpace Music, in fact.

The entire Wired.com article is well worth reading. All together now: the chance of seeing any money now is zero.