Project Playlist Turnaround

What a difference a day can make. Yesterday, I blogged about Project Playlist’s expulsion from MySpace Music, which was brought upon by pressure from the major labels. Today, it has been announced that one of these major labels, Sony Music, has now signed a licensing deal with Project Playlist to provide their entire library for streaming.

I am curious to see how this will change the game. This scenario seems to happen a lot. The labels pressure new start ups to change or die, and then end up signing agreements with them. If the other labels sign agreements with Project Playlist, I am sure they will be allowed back on the MySpace Music site. If not, it will be interesting to see the future of Project Playlist with only one major label on board.

Another issue at stake is what happens with any additional licensing deals. We saw that MySpace Music caved into pressure and took away a social networking device (Project Playlist), which is at the core of their business model, in order to appease the labels. Will the same happen with Project Playlist signing deals with the major labels? Will we begin to see their business being affected by what the labels want as opposed to what the consumer wants?

Stay tuned,
Erik
erikrostad.com