By now we’ve had a few examples of bonafide music hits from MySpace (see Lily Allen, for one), but until now the implementation on the site has been somewhat whimsical. With a new partnership between three of the major labels, MySpace Music is set to offer digital downloads, ad-supported music and video streaming. Additionally, a mobile storefront will be setup and sponsorship solutions will be put in place — this is all according to the press release.

In reality, I cautiously optimistic about what sort of impact this will have on the music industry. If the ad-supported element is leveraged effectively, this could be enormous. Musicians having full catalogs available through a web player for free with ads would be an immense boon to everyone. And complementing that with the DRM-free downloads for people who want to take that music with them is a smooth way to operate. It let’s people try before they buy, which is really the crux of the whole music piracy thing — people haven’t stopped buying music, they’ve just come to expect the ability to filter albums by first listening to them. It’s really not much to ask.

The question is though, on what kind of scale will the ad-supported angle be implemented? Will it be on the level that music is currently available on MySpace, or will it be more comprehensive, with full albums available to stream-before-you-buy?

If the answer is the latter, then this is indeed a game changing announcement. If not, it’s just more fluff that people won’t care about.

Technorati Tags: MySpace, MySpace Music, ad-supported music

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