MySpace is gearing up for the launch of its music download services later in the year, and is currently seeking partnerships from either Amazon, Rhapsody, or Apple to handle the e-commerce aspects of the service.

The download service, dubbed “MySpace Music” is a joint venture between MySpace and three out of the four major record labels to begin offering streaming music, DRM-free music downloads, and specialized widgets for MySpace users to add to their online profiles, according to CrunchBase.

The streaming music will be advertising supported with display ads at first, and later via in-stream audio ads.  The DRM-free downloads will either be advertising supported as well, or offered on a pay basis like Amazon’s Music Store.

According to TechCrunch, Amazon is in the lead to power the service, although Apple and Rhapsody are putting in their bids as well.  No final decisions have been made as of yet, but the service aims to launch in September of this year. 

Since MySpace is already featuring some 5 million bands and artists on its site, the traffic flow from MySpace to MySpace Music to stream and/or purchase and download music will help promote the service and offset the low profit margin on downloaded music sales.  According to MySpace Mobile, they’re banking on sheer quantity and variety of the offered music to help offset this fact.

A popular feature of MySpace has always been the use of the platform by unsigned and independent artists that use their profiles to spread the word about their work.  According to MySpace, a large aspect of MySpace Music’s choosing of a partner to handle the e-commerce end of things is the ability to easily handle both signed and un-signed artists on a massive scale without any complications.  Amazon and Rhapsody are both vying for the spot to gain market share over the omnipresent iTunes. 

I knew this would be the next logical step for MySpace.  Personally, when I’m searching for a song I’ve just heard or want to sample the latest offerings of a new band, MySpace is the first place I go.  With full-streaming music on band’s profiles, it’s perfect for sampling and exploring new music before going and purchasing it.  Instead of going elsewhere, most likely iTunes, MySpace’s hopes are that you head over to MySpace Music to purchase it instead.  By going the DRM-free route, they might just get a leg up on iTunes.  

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Entry was posted on Friday, July 25th, 2008 at 3:30 pm under Amazon, Music.

Read more entries by Justin Montgomery.
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