If you’ve visited a MySpace page recently, you’ll likely have been confronted by two things: an onslaught of music, and a barrage of revenue-seeking ads. So it’s not a major shock to learn the site is attempting to cash in on the digital download market.

MySpace Music launched today in the United States with the main attraction being the ability to listen to songs in full via free streaming (funded by advertising). If you want to buy a track, you’ll have to follow a link to Amazon’s download service.

Of course, unscrupulous types might well figure out a way to capture the audio from the stream – but then again, anyone willing to do that will probably already be using much simpler ways of downloading without payment.

As we reported recently, some big name advertisers are already on board, some of them sponsoring selected albums to be available as free downloads.

MySpace management will no doubt be particularly pleased to have signed up EMI as a supplier, meaning all four major labels are on board. That’s another sign that the record industry is trying to downplay Apple’s influence in the market by backing more and more services which rival iTunes.

However, that’s not necessarily the great news for consumers that it might seem: the BBC reports that part of the industry’s tensions with Apple stems from its demands that more popular tracks carry a higher price, as opposed to the flat rate on iTunes.

Beyond the big four firms, there aren’t many independent labels on board. That’s a definite minus given MySpace’s reputation for helping lesser known bands gain publicity and expand their fanbase. Giving new bands a more direct method of selling their music would have been the unique selling point which might have helped overcome the natural suspicion that MySpace music is just another iTunes wannabe.

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Entry was posted on Thursday, September 25th, 2008 at 2:31 pm under Apple, Music, Social Media.

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