Major Labels Team Up With Myspace

It's coming...

It was announced last April, but in just about a month, Myspace Music will officially be open. Myspace Music is a partnership with Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group- three of the major record labels in the industry. For those of you that haven't heard, this partnership will allow Myspace users to purchase DRM-free music digitally, offer free streaming music, and offer a place to buy music-related products like tickets and merch. It'll basically be your "one-stop source for all music, in all its various digital incarnations," according to The New York Times.

Looks like the major labels are finally catching up with the rest of the world and embracing the digital music age. But with digital downloading powerhouses like iTunes, are they too late?

Major labels have been feeling the harsh decline of physical CD sales for the past couple years, so this deal with Myspace comes to no surprise. Probably the most interesting piece of news is a proposed subscription-based downloading service. Would you pay a flat rate per month for all the music your happy finger can click? It's definitely an awesome feature that sets it apart from other music downloading services. Unfortunately, not many details have been released about it, including a price.

I think they are taking good steps in covering all their paths with the deal too. Not only is the deal going to offer digital downloads, but users will be able to buy tickets to concerts, buy merch from bands, and eventually watch live concerts online.

Myspace Music has a lot of potential to be an actual threat to iTunes when it opens up later this year.  Unfortunately, this is just another nail in the coffin for the life of albums... but I'll leave that subject for another blog post.