MySpace Music launched today. Michael Arrington:
Basically, everyone who controls rights to music is part of the new venture.
MySpace Music allows users to stream virtually any song ever published for free. Users can also create playlists that contain up to 100 songs and share them with others. Any song can also be downloaded in non-DRM MP3 format, for a fee, from Amazon’s music download service. And if you want that song as a ringtone, you can get it as well via Jamster.
Song streaming is supported via advertising on the site, and major advertisers like McDonalds, Sony Pictures, State Farm and Toyota are already signed up. […]
MySpace Music goes a long way towards music’s inevitable future where all recorded music will be free. They, along with services like iMeem [link], are now giving on demand streaming music at a zero price point to users, which was inconceivable even a couple of years ago.
Fred Wilson offers up his initial thoughts, “there’s a lot that they need to do to get me to listen to music on MySpace instead of dozens of other locations on the web where I can get a similar experience.”
Om Malik spoke with people in the music business, especially the small independent labels.
If this works, then that is a good statement for the future of music business. And if it doesn’t, then it tells where the industry is going. In other words, this is a must-win move for the record labels, who are increasingly looks hapless and well unable to deal with change.
Posts yesterday from the NYTimes Bits and CNet anticipate the new service.