The latest news is that MySpace is looking to purchase imeem. I’m not exactly sure what the thought process is behind MySpace buying up streaming website, they also purchased iLike a few months ago, but it doesn’t seem that the business model of buying more compnaies in debt to get yourself out of debt is a good one. I don’t feel so sorry for MySpace now that I’ve learned that it is owned my Rupert Murdoch.

It’s no secret that the music industry is struggling with how to take advantage of all the new technology that is available to the music listening public. Their shutting down P2P networks left and right and charging websites like imeem, Lala and Hype Machine millions to allow them to stream the labels latest singles and in doing so are putting them out of business as well.

That being said, TechCrunch posted an article last week that quoted and unknown but knowledgeable source from MySpace that said “They are spending $20 million/month on streaming royalties, and that just isn’t sustainable” and must make a decision before the quickly approaching end of the year.

There are a lot of things in this world that I don’t understand. One of them is why record labels are trying to dead end every music source by making them pay for the privilege to advertise a band’s song. This whole thing seems a bit backwards to me. A record label should be more than happy to get a band’s song out to as many ears as possible. If anything the record label should be paying MySpace not the other way around. MySpace is providing a service to these bands by allowing them to take up some of their bandwidth with media. I understand that labels have to make money in order to continue providing music to the public but I for one am not the type of person that will buy an album without hearing at least 4 songs off of it beforehand even if it’s my favorite band. If I don’t hear some tracks I don’t make a purchase.

I don’t know what the ultimate solution is here. If I did then I would be working somewhere else and making a lot more money than I do now. All I know is that there is a solution. This seems as though it should be a symbiotic relationship between websites wanting to get exposure for a musician and the label. A sort of “you scratch my back I’ll scratch yours”. Allow for free streaming, since no one I know uses MySpace or imeem as a virtual radio station and reward the websites that sell the most albums with exclusive new singles and videos. What’s wrong with that “freemium” model?

We like MySpace here at tMiM. We use it regularly as a link for readers to hear the bands that we are listening to without having to buy an album or a membership to a streaming medium like Rhapsody. Could tMiM survive without MySpace? Absolutely. Bands still have their homepages that usually have a few tracks as well as videos available for free streaming.

MySpace can certainly survive without music streaming but they’ll need to find another way to make the site a little more exciting than it is now. The real question is can the music industry survive if they keep shooting themselves in the foot?