• by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, February 18, 2008

News Corp. is in talks with the major labels to start distributing music for free, paidContent reports.

This new Web radio plan apparently involves streaming ad-supported tracks on MySpace and also other portals. Details are scant but it seems that, to some extent, News Corp. is taking a cue from CBS, which recently started offering ad-supported streams from all of the major labels on Last.fm.

While it's theoretically possible that the new deal will involve ad-supported downloads, that scenario appears unlikely, because the major labels have resisted distributing music in that format. To date, only one well-known company, SpiralFrog, has been able to cut a deal for ad-supported downloads, and that's with only with one of the four major labels -- Universal Music Group.

Last month another company, Qtrax, prematurely said it had agreements with the four major record companies to offer ad-supported downloads, when, in fact, it had only entered into talks with the labels.

Still, even if the plan only involves streams, it's understandable that News Corp. would try to enter the growing ad-supported Web music space. In fact, given MySpace's roots as an indie music site, it's surprising the company didn't attempt a deal like this years ago.

In many other ways, MySpace has capitalized on its strong base of musicians and fans. For instance, starting two years ago, the company launched a live concert initiative, where members could sign up as friends of groups and then receive invitations to "secret" concerts of groups like Grammy-nominated band Franz Ferdinand.

But, while MySpace has taken the lead in some music-related initiatives, it's possible that legal problems have slowed down the development of others. Consider, Universal sued the social networking site in 2006 for copyright infringement and, as the case has progressed through the court system, relations have grown increasingly frosty. Last year, Universal reportedly banned MySpace from streaming entire songs by musicians signed to the label, instead limiting them to 90-second snippets.