MySpace Near Deals with Sony BMG, Warner Music Group: Report

The rumored MySpace Music online store seems closer to fruition, with sources telling the NY Post that both Sony BMG and Warner Music Group are near deals with MySpace.

The sources indicated that the deals could be signed as early as later this week. Considering that News Corp. owns both MySpace and The New York Post, this is probably pretty reliable info.

MySpace Music is expected to offer paid MP3 downloads as well as ad-supported free streams of music and videos. The deals will reportedly be unusual in terms of compensation; any labels signing with MySpace Music will receive a share of the service analogous to their existing market share outside of MySpace, with no money initially changing hands.

By signing Sony BMG and Warner Music Group, MySpace will have deals with the #2 and #3 record labels out of the four major labels (Universal Music Group is #1 and EMI is #4). Since Universal is still embroiled in a lawsuit against MySpace over copyright infringement (for allowing users to upload and download songs and music videos), I wouldn't expect a deal to be signed between those two anytime soon.