In this article, the NY Times reported that 3 of the major labels (Universal, Sony BMG, & Warner) have teamed up w/ MySpace to augment the MySpace Music site. According to the article, the 3 labels will open up their catalogs to MySpace, in exchange for revenue share from ad-sponsored song streaming and download purchases. The article didn't make clear whether the labels will get a cut from merch also available for sale online (e.g. t-shirts, ringtones), but as MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe considers this endeavor a "full 360-degree revenue stream," one can assume this to be the case.
Downloads will be available DRM (Digital Rights Management) free, in line w/ offerings available at Amazon. Another attempt by the labels to wean themselves from their dependency on the almighty itunes.
Looks like the feature isn't quite ready for primetime. Upon visiting the site, there are currently no options anywhere on the site to stream or download music; looks like you have to visit the individual artist pages and these pages aren't (yet) supporting their full catalogs...
No comments:
Post a Comment