MySpace.com which remains the #1 most popular social network on the Internet has announced today a joint venture with three out of the four major music labels Sony BMG, Universal Music, and Warner Music Group, to offer "MySpace Music".
As you can guess, a digital music service, will try to use MySpace's huge reach to its advantage for monetizing music sales, merchandise, and downloads. The service which is expected to launch in the coming months will also offer ad-supported audio and video streaming, although it remains to be seen if the complete music catalog will be available through that program. Another subscription-based model that involves paying a flat monthly fee for unlimited music downloads is being looked into, but has not been confirmed.
The news come out just at the same time as some new figures that put Apple's iTunes store as the #1 music seller in the U.S. with 19 percent of sales during January 2008, overtaking Wal-Mart's in-store sales that represented 15 percent of sales, and Best Buy's 13 percent for the third spot.