The over discussed re-launch of Myspace Music it is happening tonight (Thursday morning in the US). However, it will be available internationally over the following months.
All the majors are in the deal (EMI joined last minute) plus The Orchard and few more indies.
According to Hypebot, new services will include:
- The new ‘MyMusic,’ personal music management toolset
- Free and unlimited ad-supported, full-length audio streaming
- Free and unlimited playlist functionality
- Free discography and content catalogues for SONY BMG, UMG and WMG artists
- DRM-free MP3 music e-commerce downloads powered by Amazon MP3
- Ringtone e-commerce powered by Jamster
Interesting point, raised by Techcrunch, is the fact that they are keeping unclear how record labels will be compensated. Do they have a special deal with majors which let them avoid pay-per-stream fees or pay a "special" fee?
Other streaming services (lastfm, iMeem) pay between $ .005 to $ .01 per song. If labels will allow Myspace to pay less, that could raise some legal concerns in terms of preferential pricing, antitrust, and price discrimination due to the fact they own stock of the company.
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