MySpace Names Launch Sponsors For MySpace Music
By Anna Johnson on September 23rd, 2008MySpace Music is set to launch with McDonalds, Toyota, State Farm and Sony Pictures as its chief sponsors.
MySpace Music is a joint venture between News Corporation (which owns MySpace), Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group. It will deliver a variety of ad-supported music downloads and players either free or at “very competitively priced” to consumers.
News Corporation hopes MySpace Music will appeal to both consumers – who, unlike customers of iTunes, won’t necessarily have to pay for their music – as well as advertisers. The business model also brings the record labels on as partners, who will also share in some of the advertising revenue.
So what will the launch sponsors get for their money? Well, McDonalds will have its branding integrated into the MySpace personal music player, and will also sponsor a number of free music downloads.
Sony will place skins of an upcoming movie on users’ playlists for an entire week and Toyota will be sponsoring an entire year of ‘Toyota Tuesdays’, where it will offer free downloads and recommend new music to users.
State Farm will have a more general brand presence on MySpace Music. It will have a ‘rotational presence’ among playlists, the music player, and downloads.
