How do you listen to music online now? A dollar a download? A limited number of song plays a month? A stream of music with a limited number of “skip this track”s? And your music videos—YouTube, maybe even bootlegs, right?

Just shy of six months after the announcement of an iTunes rival, MySpace Music launches, falling into none of the above categories. Add tracks to your profile, public, and private playlists and play them as many times as you want for free. (Okay, the dollar download, this time from Amazon, is still in effect.)

The initial announcement said MySpace was working on legal agreements with the major record labels, and it looks like they worked out. Financial Times reports that “The big three labels – Vivendi’s Universal Music Group, Sony BMG and Warner Music Group – together own about 40 per cent of MySpace Music joint venture” and EMI joined “at the last minute.” FT also says that MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe wants MySpace Music “to be the biggest music catalogue in the world.”

And here’s how it works (apparently I was lucky to go straight to My Music; otherwise it’s tough to find the music according to paidContent).

You can search for songs in the My Music tab:

You can browse all music, or narrow it to songs added by your friends, or top songs in the “major,” indie and unsigned categories.

From the search results you can add the song directly to your playlist:

Or play it in a player in a popup window that also features updates from the artist, if applicable:

In the player, you can also add it to your playlist:

If you can’t find the artist you want, try searching by song title. For example, [The Who] returned only results for The Guess Who (um . . . close . . . sort of). Searching for [the seeker] returned a result for “The Who” by The Seeker, obviously a simple inversion of artist and title. For some odd reason, “The Seeker” by The Who has a profile:

I told you most of the soundtrack of my life was written before I was born! And, of course, that proclivity for “old” music also means I have some obscure favorites. If you’re looking for “This Heart” by Gene Redding, keep looking.

MySpace Music also comes with preloaded featured playlists, presumably from their partners:

MySpace Music also features free-to-watch music videos, shows, classifieds and forums, which link to preexisting sections of MySpace. Additionally, MySpace Music features a playlist integrated with your profile—but so far, although I have the “Display on my profile” box checked in MySpace Music, I haven’t gotten the player to load in my profile. (paidContent had the same problem).

MySpace Music is currently only available in the US, with further rollout anticipated soon.

MySpace Music has at least one advantage over its competitors, large and small: it already has a huge user base. But the real question is: is it enough to take on iTunes? What do you think?

Comments

The exact amount of the agreed-upon flat fee remains unknown – heck, even an official ballpark is unavailable – so it’s hard to know how to treat this news.  The development may stave off a copyright infringement lawsuit or two, which would certainly be valuable to YouTube.  Then again, so would keeping cash in its pocket, and the company’s lawyers are quite good.

Another unclear issue is the matter of what will happen from this point forward.  “All four major record labels have now made licensing deals which mean they take a share of the advertising revenue when YouTube carries their music,” notes Jonathan Richards for the Times Online, “but this is the first deal which ensures that revenue will also be collected on behalf of song-writers and publishers.”

Ah, well.  We can at least return to safe ground by describing the MCPS-PRS Alliance’s membership; an article in The Guardian names Sir Paul McCartney and Eric Idle (AKA “Sir Robin”), in addition to Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen, as standing among the ranks.  And anything that benefits a Beatle and a Python can’t be all bad.

The sites will be supported by advertising, pay-per-download and syndication to third parties.  There are also plans to develop subscription based and mobile versions of the platform.

 This move by Warner Music is seen as a way to combat declining CD sales. The company has made previous deals with YouTube, Brightcove and Joost to distribute music videos online in an effort to increase revenue.

Users will be able to search for videos by artist, label or genre. The platform will be available in different languages and feature unreleased video footage. Key features on the sites will include personalized video programming, "send to a friend" option and video-on-demand.

Warner chairman Patrick Vien said, "The depth and breadth of experiences that this partnership should ultimately provide means we will connect not only with traditional music fans, but with a broader audience who consume music on a more casual, lifestyle orientated basis."

"To be working with a major music label and its complete music video archive is a great opportunity,” Premium TV CEO Oliver Slipper said. “It will also offer an enhanced commercial model, building on our existing expertise monetizing clients’ rights, through the incorporation of targeted in-stream video advertising.”

In a new report from the IFPI “Digital Music Report 2007″ says that digital music sales account for 10 percent of the music market. In 2006 digital music sales revenue hit an estimated $2 billion while the number of songs available online reached four million.

“The record industry today has evolved into a digital thinking, digitally literate business,” said IFPI CEO John Kennedy. “We expect at least one quarter of all music sales worldwide to be digital.”

The report points out that while digital music sales have helped struggling record labels achieve a revenue stream it has not been enough to close the gap on declining CD sales. Digital piracy and the devaluation of music continue to be a challenge for the digital music business.

On the piracy issue Kennedy said,” With cooperation from ISPs we could make huge strides in tackling Internet piracy globally. It is very unfortunate that it seems to need pressure from governments or even action in the courts to achieve this, but as an industry we are determined to see this campaign through to the end.”

Consumers seem to be enjoying all the advantages that digital music has to offer. They are able to search online stores for rare songs or albums that may be out of print and would be difficult to obtain from a traditional offline store.

Kennedy said,” The chief winners in the rise of digital music are consumers. They have effectively been given access to 24-hour music stores with unlimited shelf space. They can consume music in new ways and formats – an iTunes download, a video on YouTube, a ringtone or a subscription library.”

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A new report from the Digital Media Association suggests that online music consumers are energizing the music industry. 60 percent of those surveyed say they are listening to more music since they have gone online and that the Internet has broadened their musical tastes and exposed them to new artists.

The survey found that online music listening has increased music discussions with friends and co-workers. 35 percent say they talk about music more often and 75 percent say they have recommended a music service to a friend or co-worker.

Listening to and purchasing music online also lead to increased concert attendance according to the survey. 15 percent of online music fans said they attend more concerts.

“These findings demonstrate that real music fans – today’s music tastemakers – are online,” said Jonathan Potter of the DiMA. “Consumers of innovative online music services are reviving the music economy as they enjoy more music in every way possible.”

The survey also found that consumers of online music are spending more on music than those that are offline. Around half of digital music fans spend $200 a year on music, while 30 percent are spending $300 or more.

“Prior to the digital age, someone who purchased six CDs per year – valued at just over $100 – was considered a significant music consumer,” said Mr. Potter. “Online music consumers’ spending habits, combined with what they are doing to promote and expand music enjoyment, is great for the entire music industry – artists, songwriters and producers.”

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-Steely Dan, Aja

The new rules cover Web sites and mobile phone companies that carry music. Domestic distributors of Chinese music will have to register but they will not have to submit content to censors.

The crackdown happened because of “a rash of problems with imported online games, some of which contain sensitive religious material or refer to territorial disputes”, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

China has a healthy population of online game players. Currently they have 23 million game players up from 13.8 million in 2003 according to Xinhua. The revenues for this year are projected to reach $850 million.

There have been differing reactions to some of the posts I have come across.” America opens it’s borders and allows a flood of Chinese goods into the country without any kind of protecionism resulting in the loss of jobs and intense competition and China starts blocking American entertainment product in order to protect it’s own jobs and people?”,wrote nbforsale.

Another poster wrote,”China is only trying to keep the Internet clean,stop online piracy and protect people from porn and other obscene materials”. Probably the most balanced post was written by ogobeone. He summed the situation up nicely writing,” The more the Chinese government suppresses the Chinese,the more enemies it will make”.

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Wal-Mart, the leader in movie sales in America, has announced that by next year they will have added a fully operational video downloading service to their website.

While Wal-Mart hopes to conquer the online video market, it does not intend to make DVD technology obsolete. Instead the company wishes to package physical DVD sales with online sales.

“We feel like it is really important that the DVD business stays healthy and stays quite central to consumers’ lives,” said Kevin Swint, divisional merchandising manager of the company, told the New York Times

In an effort to test the effectiveness of the video downloading site, consumers who purchased a DVD copy of Warner Brother’s film “Superman Returns” were offered a “bonus download”.

The bonus download offered customers the chance to purchase a version of “Superman Returns” for their portable device for $1.97, a personal computer version for $2.97, or a package deal containing both for $3.97.

Currently, Wal-Mart offers a music downloading feature on their website on which consumers may purchase any song for the competitive price of 88 cents; 11 cents cheaper than the price of music at iTunes.

If the price of Wal-Mart’s music downloads are any indication to the price of video downloads on the site, they should definitely be a strong competitor to current music download leader, iTunes.

There is speculation that in order to compete with other video downloading sites, Wal-Mart will bundle movie packages in the same manner as the physical DVD’s they sell.

Last year, Wal-Mart launched their own streaming digital video site called Soundcheck, featuring videos of studio performances by various musicians, with links to purchase music by the artist.

Wal-Mart has yet to release the names of studios other than Warner Brothers that they might be partnering with, however they did make a statement that Hewlett-Packard would be providing the technology for the download site.

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Marketing Shift’s Jason Dowdell blogged his bad experience recently with Arby’s and its “I’m Thinking Music Sweeps.” Feigned cool with forced slang…the name alone is a red flag.

Rather than letting customers know instantly if they win a free song download, they are required to:

• Visit the Arby’s Web site (step one).
• Register with the site (step two).
• Take a survey (step three).
• Enter their code to see if they win a song (step four).

But winners can’t download the song yet. Arby’s sends download instructions via email (step five). And if you have multiple codes? You have to wait 24 hours before entering another one. But not before logging back into the site (step six, etc.).

Wow. That experience makes me want to run to Arby’s this instant to purchase a 44 oz beverage and join the fun. Yeah, you have to buy a bloated tankard of soda before you are honored with this opportunity.

Here’s my favorite line from Dowdell’s tale regarding company coupons, rebates and contests: “Businesses are based on the people that don’t follow through with mailing stuff in or with going online to enter their code and see if they won a free song from Yahoo! Music.”

After reading Dowdell’s post, I hit Arby’s site. As part of its “I’m Thinking” campaign, the site allows you to create your own thought bubble.

Cool, I thought, albeit an homage to the Motorola Pebl Pond. But Arby’s thought bubble offers NO customization. Every field other than name has a drop down menu with choices…Arby’s tells customers what to think too?! I’m thinking this approach to online marketing sucks.

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Kevin Dugan is the author of the popular Strategic Public Relations blog. Kevin is Director of Marketing Communications for FRCH Design Worldwide.

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