In 1999, Brockton MA born Shawn Fanning created Napster from his Northeastern University dorm room. We all know what happened next; the peer to peer music sharing site became insanely popular prompting countless lawsuits from the paranoid and confused major record labels which eventually led to the fall of Napster. Since Napster, there have been many new internet sensations none bigger then Myspace.com. It was announced today that Shawn Fanning’s new company Snocap will be partnering with Myspace and Pay Pal to allow Myspace users to buy music from unsigned bands. (Eventually major label acts will most likely be included but to start off it looks like it will only be unsigned bands) I am sure there will be problems with the service at first considering myspace crashes every 20 minutes, but overall this is a great idea and will be a boon to unsigned bands. One of the most interesting aspects of the service is that the bands themselves will be able to decide how much each song costs. While the major record labels where able to take down Napster it looks like Fanning may have the last laugh. Sites like Myspace which will allow bands to directly sell their music will eventually make Major Record Labels nearly obsolete.

Go here to read more: http://money.cnn.com/2006/09/02/technology/myspacemusic.reut/