McDonald's and Toyota among first sponsors of MySpace Music

by Fiona Ramsay, Marketing 25-Sep-08, 11:08

LONDON - Sony Pictures, McDonald's, State Farm and Toyota are the first brands to have signed up to sponsor social network MySpace's new ad-supported MySpace Music site, which brings together free online music from the four music major labels at launch.

McDonald's will have a presence on MySpace Music's personal music player, giving away a variety of free music downloads. To promote the opening of Sony Pictures' comedy Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, the movie studio will be skinning all MySpace Music users' profile playlists for an entire week with branding from the film.

State Farm will have rotating ads among all pages including the Featured Playlist, Personal Music Player and MyMusic, where members go to create and edit playlists.

With ‘Toyota Tuesdays', the car brand will offer free music downloads and have a strong presence on MySpace Music's Personal Music Player every Tuesday for a year.

MySpace finalised deals with EMI Music in the US late yesterday to launch its new music service with other joint-venture partners Sony BMG, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony ATV/ Music Publishing.

MySpace Music will also incorporate the entire music catalogue from independent digital company The Orchard.

The social network previously had a MySpace Music site, but in April announced plans to offer digital downloads and ad-supported streaming through partnerships with the major labels.

The revamped site allows users to search for music videos, artist profiles and playlists, and offers audio and video content for download. Labels and artists will be able to develop merchandising opportunities and sell concert tickets through the site.

Following the US launch, the site, which is also available in Spanish, will be rolled out globally.

Beginning today, US users can purchase MP3 music downloads through MySpace Music's new e-commerce offering, powered by Amazon MP3.

Users can also click on a ‘Find Ringtones' button, powered by Jamster, within music players, to purchase ringtones of tracks by their favourite artists.