Legendary singer-songwriter Billy Bragg had an op-ed piece at the New York Times yesterday on the topic of Internet startups profiting from, but not remunerating, the musicians who provide the music that helps drive traffic and user acquisition. (A few years ago, Bragg's criticism of MySpace's legal terms and conditions for posted songs drew much attention.) Bragg told of the conversations he had at SXSW:

In our discussions, we largely ignored the elephant in the room: the issue of whether (Bebo co-founder Michael Birch) ought to consider paying some kind of royalties to the artists. After all, wasn’t he using their music to draw members — and advertising — to his business? Social-networking sites like Bebo argue that they have no money to distribute — their value is their membership. Well, last week Michael Birch realized the value of his membership. I’m sure he’ll be rewarding those technicians and accountants who helped him achieve this success. Perhaps he should also consider the contribution of his artists.

Sounds nice, doesn't it? A better conclusion, however, is that artists of all stripes should create the mechanisms and institutions that can negotiate with companies such as Bebo before they are acquired for millions -- if not billions. Asking (not that Bragg had his hand out) for money after the fact will get you nowhere.

Maybe the correct mechanisms don't exist, but the institutions do exist. Shouldn't the Musicians' Union be able to take a hard line if this is such an important topic? Why can't trade groups like the Association of Independent Music negotiate with social network sites? Why haven't songwriter associations had anything to say about this? All those streams and not a peep out of the performance rights organizations? If this is an important issue, if Bragg is right, perhaps those groups should address it. There will be more Bebos in the very near future.

"The musicians who posted their work on Bebo.com are no different from investors in a start-up enterprise," wrote Bragg. Wrong. Investors actually own a piece of the enterprise and share in the financial risk. But one can argue that music does add value to many Internet startups. Maybe it's time for musicians to take all those free streams much more seriously.

Additional commentary on Bragg's piece can be read at Mashable, Rough Type, TechCrunch and in this News.com blog post by Charles Cooper.