MySpace will take on iTunes after music rules change

MySpace has announced that it will sell new independent music just weeks after the social networking giant changed its terms and conditions to clear up legal uncertainty on the site. The company will sell music from three million unsigned bands, it said.

MySpace is the biggest social networking site in the world, with 107 million account holders, according to the company. Just last month it agreed to modifications to its terms and conditions to pacify a campaign led by singer Billy Bragg.

The terms and conditions had appeared to grant MySpace rights over music hosted there, and Bragg campaigned to have them changed so that they explicitly stated that MySpace, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, had no claim over rights in the music.

"I don't want to find out in 25 years time that 20% of my earnings are owned by Apple or whoever. I want the right to be able to exploit my own back catalogue," Bragg told OUT-LAW. "If I choose to sign that away to someone for life of copyright that's my choice but before that happens I want kids to know what that means and what the ramifications of that are."