Billy Bragg succeeds in getting MySpace to change its rules

Terms and conditions changed

1 August 2006 10:06 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Billy Bragg has paid tribute to social networking giant MySpace after persuading it to change its terms and conditions.

"With respect to the guys at MySpace I have to accept that within a week of me writing a letter to Music Week they had complied with my suggestion to change their terms and conditions, so more power to them, I respect that", Bragg told OUT-LAW.com an international law firm with a long-standing interest in IT and e-commerce. "I think MySpace acted in the spirit of the Internet."

Bragg has been campaigning since June this year to get the social networking site to change its terms and conditions following fears that it could be used without his permission.

In a statement on his MySpace Blog Bragg said: "Someone who we work with was bright enough to read the small print of the MySpace terms and conditions and found that once an artist posts up any content (including songs), it then belongs to MySpace (AKA Rupert Murdoch) and they can do what they want with it, throughout the world without paying the artist."

However late last week the site did change its rules to reflect Bragg's wishes.

The new terms and conditions make it clear that the company renounces all ownership rights to musicians' material.

The new terms and conditions state that posting material automatically grants MySpace a limited licence to use and modify the content, but says that this is purely a technical issue. "Without this licence, MySpace.com would be unable to provide the MySpace services", said the terms.

Full tags

Software, Online, Social networking, MySpace