[Infowarrior] - Billy Bragg gets MySpace's terms of service changed

[Richard Forno]

 Billy Bragg gets MySpace's terms of service changed
http://www.boingboing.net/2006/07/27/billy_bragg_gets_mys.html

Billy Bragg's highly publicized campaign against MySpace's crummy, grabby
terms of service has been successful. MySpace has revised its terms so that
musicians who upload to the site retain control of their works, and
MySpace/NewsCorp/Fox can't sell those songs without contracting with the
musicians....

    Now that the popularity of downloading has made physical manufacturing
and distribution no longer necessary, the next generation of artists will
not need to surrender all of their rights in order to get their music into
the marketplace. It is therefore crucial that they understand, from the
moment that they first post music on the internet, the importance of
retaining their long term right to exploit the material that they create.
This is doubly important on a networking site where many of the songs posted
will be by unsigned artists. Ownership of the rights to such material is
somewhat ambiguous. Thats why I hope that the groundbreaking decision of
MySpace to come down on the side of the artists rights will be followed
throughout the industry.

    I also welcome the new wording of the terms and conditions in which
MySpace clarify exactly why they require specific rights and how they intend
to use them. Again, I hope more sites follow the lead of MySpace in ensuring
the use of clear and transparent language in contracts. The last thing any
of us wants to see is a situation in which everyone posting a song on the
site has to have a lawyer sitting next to them.