MYSPACE SET TO UNVEIL MUSIC VENTURE

MySpace Music, MySpace’s new digital music joint venture with the major record labels, will launch tomorrow with an eye on cashing in on the growing demand for advertising-supported song streaming.

As part of the bow, the company has added music giant EMI as an equity partner in the joint venture, joining existing partners Universal Music Group, Sony BMG and Warner Music Group.

The company also has signed content licensing deals with indie label distributor The Orchard, and Sony Corp.’s music publishing arm Sony/ATV-neither of which will participate as equity partners.

At launch, the service will focus primarily on free music streaming supported by ads from initial sponsors including McDonald’s, Sony Pictures, State Farm, and Toyota.

Users will be able to listen to an unlimited amount of tunes and full albums, collect their favorite tracks and create personalized playlists that they revisit and share with other MySpace users via their profile pages.

As part of the launch, MySpace is also teaming up with Amazon.com to enable users to buy downloads of songs through the site. Ringtones also can be purchased through a partnership with Jamster.