The question of who owns the rights to distributing and profiting off music has been relevant since the beginning of the modern music industry in the 1920' s. If an artist licenses his or her music to a record label, than who has the legal right to distribute it, and subsequently make money off it?

Until music was digitized and distributed online, it was the major labels that owned the music and profit margin. Nowadays, major music labels are growing more obsolete every day, as so-called independent labels (even though they are more often than not distributed by majors if profitable) are homogenizing the marketplace, and on-line stores like iTunes and Napster sell more per day than any music store. Yet, with more variables in the mix, the question of who owns the right to the music in today's industry is growing even more complex, as individual songs can be licensed and sold, even if the medium - like iTunes - does not have the legal right to sell the entire album. Now the wildly popular MySpace, which is owned by News Corp and Spiral Frog, a Universal-Vivendi venture are presenting two more unique ways in which the customer can buy and/or download music.

MySpace will sell hundreds of thousands of bands' music on their site, charging a convenience fee that has yet to be determined for the service, while Spiral Frog will give their music away and berate the user with ads and promotions to make up the difference. While these new mediums provide more choice for the consumer, whether they will in fact benefit the independent band and fledgling label remains in question. The more proverbial hands the music passes through, the more hands will want a piece of the pie, leaving the original creators with less power over their art than advertised through the service. Yet, it gives bands opportunities to access a universal market of consumers that greatly trump most local market share. Therefore, the situation is paradoxical, and undoubtedly confusing. When MySpace and Spiral Frog launch, the benefits and challenges will unveil themselves.

Until then, it is just hearsay, estimation and confusion. Better keep up the downloading.