News Corp. Working On Music ‘Hulu’ For MySpace

News Corp. is pursuing a music joint venture for MySpace—similar to Hulu, its video joint venture with NBC Universal, but with variations on the theme. The constant in both instances is content for equity. Under this scheme, MySpace would be the operator with the major music labels—Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group, EMI—as content providers and equity partners. MySpace would be a distributer but, like Hulu, the idea would be a mixed portal-distribution experience. Music would be DRM-free and ad supported. MySpace, which claims more than 7 million bands with on MySpace Music, has explored and experimented with numerous ways to capture the full value of music to the site, including a recent limited test of ad-supported music downloads. Music has been at the core since the beginning and remains a major driver. Last fall, MySpace and Sony BMG set up a revenue-sharing partnership for sponsorships and ads with the label’s artists’ video and audio content within MySpace.
http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-draft-news-corp-working-on-music-hulu-for-myspace/