Adding to speculation that MySpace Music is about to go live, the social networking firm has announced it has four sponsors in place to fund its free streaming service at launch, in the US at least - McDonalds, Sony Pictures, Toyota and State Farm.
As far as we can make out, free streaming is going to be at the heart of the all new MySpace Music service, in contrast to the existing MySpace Music platform where free streaming is, erm, at the heart of the service. I think the difference is that MySpace will now licence entire catalogues off the major record companies, rather than relying on labels and artists to upload content to their individual MySpace pages, and users will be able to add multiple streaming tracks to their personal MySpace profiles, not just the one track as is currently allowed.
As previously reported, it is thought the download component of the new MySpace Music service will be provided, in the US at least, by Amazon MP3. Just how integrated that will be in the MySpace platform remains to be seen.
Confirming its sponsors, MySpace sales and marketing chief Jeff Berman told reporters: "With MySpace Music integration, premium brands are offering our users and their customers new ways to discover, experience, and share music online and offline".