• CNET News.com, Tuesday, February 19, 2008 11 AM

Free music, it seems, is here to stay. First, Imeem, then SpiralFrog, QTrax and now, News Corp.'s MySpace is aiming to bring ad-supported music to the Web's largest social network. CNET's Greg Sandoval says the Web's No. 1 social network is currently in discussions with music's big four about giving the record labels an equity stake in MySpace in exchange for offering free music.

Reports in the blogosphere conflict over whether the new music service would offer downloadable or streaming music; PaidContent says downloads, while the Silicon Alley Insider says streaming. Sandoval's source wouldn't comment, but "I have a hunch it streams," he says, because Big Music has mostly shown no interest in giving away downloads on ad-supported sites.

SpiralFrog is the only one to score a top record company (Universal Music Group), while QTrax is still trying. Imeem and CBS' Last.fm both offer streaming services on their social networks, and Sandoval says data shows that streaming music actually encourages sales. The only way MySpace will be able to secure downloads, he says, is if News Corp. pay so much for them that the labels can't resist.

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