It appears that Sony BMG and Warner are close to signing a deal for the upcoming MySpace Music online store that would make their entire music catalogs available to the service.
The service is expected to offer individual pay-for MP3 downloads as well "as ad-subsidized free streams of music and videos." MySpace Music online is also expected to have downloadable ringtones through Jamba.
The deal has a strange compensation format however. All labels that are part of the service will be paid "a share in the venture dictated by their existing marketshare outside of MySpace." It is not clear whether sales success from the service will change the format of compensation however. Universal is expected to not make a deal for the time being because it has an ongoing copyright infringement lawsuit filed against the social networking site.
Sony, Warner and MySpace declined comment but the service is believed to be an attempt to dethrone the online market leader iTunes.
The deal has a strange compensation format however. All labels that are part of the service will be paid "a share in the venture dictated by their existing marketshare outside of MySpace." It is not clear whether sales success from the service will change the format of compensation however. Universal is expected to not make a deal for the time being because it has an ongoing copyright infringement lawsuit filed against the social networking site.
Sony, Warner and MySpace declined comment but the service is believed to be an attempt to dethrone the online market leader iTunes.
