Project Unicorn

We spotted an interesting post from Eliot Van Buskirk on Wired’s Listening Post Blog today, MySpace Music Won’t Give Equity to Indie Bands which is a shining example of exactly why the time has come for a service like the one Unicorn Media is offering for the artist community. In a nutshell the piece points to an Wired interview with Wired reporter Laura Locke and MySpace CEO and co-founder Chris DeWolfe who basically says that MySpace doesn’t plan on sharing its advertising revenues with the individual artists (whose profile pages the ads are being viewed from) anytime soon:

“…while MySpace is open to offering an equity deal similar to what the majors got to ‘the right partners,’ indie bands who are unaffiliated with an aggregator like The Orchard or a major label like Universal will not receive any the general revenue generated by MySpace Music.”

Will MySpace pay artists who host their hard-earned work on the site? Um, no.

“…They [artists] will, of course, receive a healthy share of their own song and merchandise sales, but none of the money generated by advertisements on their profile pages. That money will go to MySpace owner News Corp., the major labels and any indie music aggregators that manage to sign equity deals with MySpace.”

Hey, this is great news if you’re an investor in MySpace or record label. But if you’re an artist trying to make a living off of your work? Not so much. At the end of his post, Wired’s Eliot Van Buskirk writes,

“If you’re an indie artist on MySpace, it’s time to start shopping around for an aggregator. The Orchard, IODA and CD Baby are all possible candidates for signing equity deals with MySpace Music. It’s the only way you’re going to re-level the playing field and get the same treatment MySpace accords the major labels.”

Well Eliot, working with an aggregator might be the only way an artist can get some ad-revenue sharing love from MySpace, but that doesn’t mean they have to give in to ‘the man.’ Unicorn Media offers a perfect alternative for indie artists and bands that have built online followings and want to get back their fair share of the ad revenue being generated based on their reputations and popularity. Unicorn Media offers all artists (signed and unsigned) up to 50% of the ad revenue generated by their content on our site. So artists, take that super popular MySpace page and use it to drive your friends and fans to Unicorn Media where they can listen to your music and interact with you for free. And every time they listen to one of your songs, you get paid. Because at Unicorn, no artist is too small to share in the ad-revenue love. Your success is our success and Unicorn Media believes that artists should have a place to showcase their music in the high quality they intended it, build a fan base, interact directly with their fans and make money. Come join us in the entertainment revolution.

Meredith Treinen Music, Video