by SHANE SINNOTT

Does a month ever go by without the launch of some kind of web 2.0/social networking/music “hub”? I don’t know. I do know that the poorly named likeZEBRA (likezebra.com) launched last month and is trying to position itself as a MySpace for “indie music”—meaning unsigned bands. The idea is that the site will allow musicians, notorious for their lack of business sense (or so their reputation is to most people, judging from the amount of sites out there to “help” them), to market themselves, sell their music, book shows and, as spokesman Braven Greenelsh so nicely puts it, “ultimately monetize their music in the process.” Fans can create accounts and add themselves to a band’s mailing list, and bands can send out text-message blasts and the like to keep them updated. Pretty nice of likeZEBRA, putting up a service like this for free, no? In fact, they are so nice that they even go to the trouble of relieving you of those pesky rights to your content. From the terms of service (bit.ly/a0m2VV): “By submitting or posting Content to any part of the Web Site, you thereby grant to the Company… worldwide license (with the rights to sublicense) at no cost… to use, copy, perform, display… This license includes without limitation any and all sound recordings, musical compositions…” And so on. Sure, it says at the end they can’t sell your music for profit, but it sure sounds like there are a lot of indirect “monetizing” opportunities in those rights listed above. I guess I do know why these sites launch every few weeks.

For something more positive (I’ve been feeling like a huge curmudgeon lately), Jill Scott granted the rights to her song “Hear My Call,” which she debuted recently at the NAACP Imagine Awards, to the NAACP for Haiti fund. If you go to bit.ly/cCT5dg, you can download the track for 99 cents, and all proceeds will go to the fund. If you want to hear it first, go to bit.ly/ciIjmc.