This is worth a chuckle: MySpace exec explained to the Digital Music Forum that the company might have pushed its first CD too hard on its users and ended up hurting demand. MySpace Records Volume 1 has sold "between 40,000 and 50,000" units so far (right in the middle, actually). But exec Shawn Gold admitted it might have been "just a shitty CD." The compilation has tracks by Fall Out Boy, Weezer, The Click Five, AFI and other successful bands. The site attempted to lure buyers with free t-shirts and extra photos for users' sites, and fuse had a promotion that gave away $1,000 for 39 days.

Coolfer is on the record as doubting the ability of MySpace to sell music. Not the record label, but the website. More than one artist who has been the focal point of a MySpace campaign has got barely a jump in sales. The social networking site is good for giving away free music. At this point its users may be conditioned to expect only free music from the site.

Then again, compilations are a very tough sell, and making something like that a label's first release should have been approached as nothing more than a test run. The label now has a sales history and can build upon it with all original music from bands it will sign and develop.