Music News Bulletin - 24/09/08

MySpace Music set to launch tonight, with all four majors on board September 24, 2008
"The MySpace Music joint venture intends to go live tomorrow with a new Web site that will give users free access to a massive catalog of songs from all four major labels as well as independents. The last holdout, EMI Group plc, has agreed to be part of the service, and has received equity in the joint venture alongside Warner Music Group Corp. [WMG], Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group, and MySpace Inc. itself, a division of News Corp. [NWS] Independent content will be supplied by key distributor The Orchard Enterprises Inc. [ORCD], and Sony/ATV Music Publishing has also agreed to be part of the venture." [TheDeal]

Anticipating MySpace Music launch, Imeem plans outreach September 24, 2008
"As the launch date nears for MySpace Inc.'s joint venture with three major record labels, its many rivals have begun to anticipate a new competitive landscape. Apple Inc. [AAPL], whose iTunes music store already faces off with rumored MySpace partner Amazon.com Inc.'s [AMZN] download store, will see redoubled competition from the new operation. Social network operator Facebook Inc. continues to gain strength from the proliferation of third-party applications on its platform, including music tools such as iLike Inc. And on-demand streaming music provider Imeem Inc., itself a social network as well, has taken steps to differentiate itself from MySpace Music, which will likely be its largest competitor yet." [TheDeal]

Could MyTunes beat Apple at its own game?
"A few months ago News Corporation announced that it was taking on Apple in the music downloads marketplace.

Chris DeWolfe, the CEO of MySpace, said it would be starting up a one-stop music shop by spinning out the existing MySpace Music service to become an independent joint venture." [Mark8]

With SlotMusic, SanDisk gambles that physical music isn't dead yet September 22, 2008
"SanDisk Corp. is baffling observers with its introduction of a new physical format for music retailers, intended to replace CDs on shelves in big-box retail stores. Why in the world would the company expect people to buy music in a new, unfamiliar physical form when so many listeners are moving toward paid downloads with no physical media, not to mention various free models?" [TheDeal]

ImTheMusic: Whose musical taste is it, anyway?
"As an abundance of user-generated content continues to appear on the Web, mechanisms for separating wheat and chaff increase in importance. Influential companies such as Digg Inc. may point the way to the future of democratically filtered content, but thus far, the thumbs-up-or-thumbs-down functions of most Web 2.0 sites are largely underused and ineffective. As one VC said to me recently, "What's more depressing than the comments section of a YouTube video?"" [TheDeal]