MySpace To Crack Down on Copyrighted Music

MySpace has announced it has licensed technology from GraceNote to review music uploaded by members to make sure they don't violate copyright.

Social networking giant MySpace has inked a deal with GraceNote to use the company’s MusicID audio fingerprinting technology to review audio users upload to their profiles to make sure it doesn’t violate copyright. Using the technology, MySpace intends to block uploads of copyrighted music recordings; users who repeatedly attempt to upload copyrighted material will have their accounts suspended.

“MySpace is staunchly committed to protecting artists’ rights—whether those artists are on major labels or are independent acts,” said Chris DeWolfe, MySpace CEO and co-founder, in a statement. “This is another important step we’re taking to ensure artists control the content they create.”

Financial terms of the arrangement were not disclosed.

Gracenote’s MusicID system is in use throughout the music and digital distribution industry to implement content filtering, monitor broadcasts, enable music recognition in mobile applications (so users can hold their phone up to a music source and have the song and artist identified), and enable rights clearance and digital music recognition.

The move is intended to prevent MySpace users from illegally uploading copyrighted audio and music to their profiles for visitors and others to hear, but may present problems for musicians, bands, and artists who hold legitimate copyright to material or whose material is incorrectly flagged by the system.