Under President Barack Obama's mandate, the Federal Communications Commissions is drafting provisions that would offer a legal implementation of net neutrality. The subject is a surprisingly contentious one, as some large businesses wish that they could pay to get a higher priority in terms of internet traffic.

In the music industry, the issue is a particularly thorny one as the industry is divided between big labels and independent labels. Over 90 percent of music released by labels in the U.S. is released on independent labels, yet major labels hog much of money and glory with formulaic hit generators like Jay Z, Britney Spears, and Taylor Swift.

The American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) chimed in on the net neutrality debate in an open letter from its President, Rich Bengloff. In the letter, Bengloff speaks for the independent labels in strongly voicing support for a neutral internet. He says that a neutral internet assures for "fair access" , which could otherwise be abused and squashed by major labels in terms of their online footprint.

Bengloff, however, was quick to draw the line at "legal" content.  He comments, "As listeners continue to move away from the classic sales model to a 'time spent listening' performance model, we hope Chairman Genachowski will also demonstrate a respect for Intellectual Property and by extension the need for artists and labels to be fairly compensated for the works they create when those works are used or recreated."

In that respect, the indie labels share a significant aspect of the major labels' stance.  While they are more vocal advocates on the topic of net neutrality, like the majors they don't believe that such protections should be extended to all forms of traffic, such as those commonly used for legal and illegal music filesharing like bittorrent and P2P.

At the end of the day the indie labels appear firm in supporting net neutrality -- but only if it has exceptions aimed at piracy.