Myspace to offer free music service
February 20th, 2008 at 12:38 pm by AndyAccording to a report by the Financial Times, Myspace are in talks with major record labels, in a bid to provide an ad-supported music service:
The company, a division of News Corp, has held discussions with Universal Music, Sony BMG, Warner Music and EMI, according to several people familiar with the matter.
While some executives characterised the conversations as preliminary, others said they were well advanced. MySpace declined to comment, as did the music companies.
One hurdle for MySpace would be the need to resolve an outstanding lawsuit filed by Universal Music. It sued MySpace in November 2006, accusing it of copyright theft for allowing users to post its artists’ songs and videos on their home pages without permission. The two sides have been discussing a settlement, according to a person familiar with the matter.
If the venture takes flight, News Corp would join Amazon.com, Wal-Mart and a group of other competitors who are trying to challenge Apple’s dominance of online music through its iTunes store.