• Advertising Age, Monday, January 19, 2009 11:30 AM

MySpace has beefed up the catalog of available music on MySpace Music, adding five new independent labels and indie music distributors. According to Billboard, the new partners are Nettwerk Music Group, INgrooves, IRIS Distribution, RoyaltyShare, and Sony Music Entertainment's Wind-Up Records. MySpace Music now has seven total indie label partners.

However, Billboard notes that the service still lacks a licensing deal with indie giant Merlin, a collection of 12,000 total labels. Merlin has been particularly vocal against the terms MySpace Music offers its partners. One of its main complaints is that the major labels are given equity stakes in the joint venture, while indie labels were not. As a result, Merlin argues that the indie labels are effectively being asked to license their music to a service operated by competitors.

Meanwhile, independent music is still a major part of MySpace Music, which is focused on music discovery and sharing." These important new partnerships will allow the MySpace Music community to access even more of their favorite independent music while enabling monetization opportunities for the newly licensed artists," said MySpace Music president Courtney Holt. "We are thrilled to have our new partners on board and will continue our aggressive content acquisition efforts."

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