MySpace exploits musicians, says Bragg

Billy Bragg has taken on Rupert Murdoch's MySpace.com website in a dispute about artists' rights, after he claimed it was exploiting musicians.

The singer, whose hits include "Sexuality" and "Levi Stubbs' Tears", has removed all his music from the online community - which is credited with making chart-topping band Arctic Monkeys a success - because he claims the small-print gives the site too much power over his work.

MySpace has agreed to revamp the rules to avoid confusion over a clause which says artists grant the site a "royalty-free, worldwide licence ... to use, copy, modify ... and distribute" any content. Thousands of bands have posted material on to MySpace, which Mr Murdoch's News Corp bought for £300m last year.

Bragg told The Independent on Sunday: "There are four words I never like to see together - 'royalty free worldwide licence'. The alarm bells start ringing.

"The rights you are giving to MySpace are above and beyond anything you would give to a record company ... You would never go to talk to a record company without a lawyer but there are lots of people on MySpace without one."