MySpace Music launches

MySpace Music, the new music service from the social networking site, launched in the USA last night (September 24) and will launch in the UK soon.

The new service allows artists to upload their entire back catalogues onto their MySpace profiles for streaming.

Users, meanwhile, can post up to ten songs on their own profiles for visitors to listen to, and up to 100 for personal listening. Songs can be clicked on to be downloaded via Amazon.com.

So far all the major record labels – Universal, Warner Music, EMI and Sony BMG have signed up to the service to allow their artists catalogues to become available either now or in the near future.

Record labels will make money through the service by receiving a share of advertising revenue from MySpace based on how many times their songs are played. Links to buy merchandise and gig tickets will also be incorporated into artists' MySpace profiles.

Anthony Lukom of MySpace UK said he had high hopes for the new service.

He commented: "Why I believe this is unique is because we have 35 million unique users on the music pages, five million active bands and unprecedented cooperation with labels on content side.

"This is the big difference [compared to other music download services]: we have an existing audience who are hungry for it."

A launch date for the service in the UK is yet to be announced, but is expected to be revealed soon.


Original article here