The online music business is a virtual monopoly, with Apple tightly at the reins.  With 70 percent of the MP3 player market under its grasp, and over four billion songs sold, it should come as little surprise that iTunes recently became the nation's largest music retailer -- online or off.  While smaller players like Rhapsody and Napster trying to pick at Apple's armor, few have mounted a real challenge.

Now a new competitor seeks to change all that -- MySpace.  MySpace has long had close ties with musicians.  Where smaller competitor Facebook focused initially solely on individual profiles, MySpace made band profiles an integral part of its experience.  The result was a pop culture phenomena, in which artists such as Katy Perry, Kate Voegle, Sean Kingston, and Lilly Allen have launched highly successful careers largely driven by the buzz they created on MySpace via catchy featured tracks.

Thus it was perhaps inevitable that MySpace, which has made more than a few musicians' careers would start selling music. 

That time is now, as today MySpace Music officially launched.  The new endeavor was cooked up by MySpace owner and media mogul, Rupert Murdoch.  Securing the support of all four major record labels -- Sony BMG, EMI Group, Universal Music Group (UMG), and Warner Music Group (WMG) -- Mr. Murdoch's social giant may have the firepower needed to go head to head with Apple.

The site is also partnering with Sony ATV to score the support of independent labels.  With "indie" everything being the hottest trend in music at the moment, the support of independent labels such as The Orchard, Alternative Distribution Alliance, Caroline, RED, and Fontana, which Sony ATV is partnered with, should be critical.

The new deal is also critical to Amazon, as it has partnered with MySpace to provide the tracks.  Arguably, the two need each other greatly as MySpace has a huge profile, but no distribution network, while Amazon has the distribution network without the high profile.

Working in MySpace’s favor is the fact that 65 percent of its users already have streaming music in their profiles, putting its user base at over 78 million -- more than Apple iTune's 50 million users.  In total, MySpace plays a whopping 6 billion songs a month -- more than Apple has sold in its career.  Another key advantage is MySpace’s streaming music player which will integrate into its store.  A playlist of over 100 songs can be made from the store's library of searchable tracks. 

These songs can be listened to, in their entirety, free of charge, so users have a great way of checking out music before buying, unlike in iTunes, which is more restrictive about previews.  Other sites such as iLike have had success with such playlist strategies, but they have been limited in that they send buyers to a separate site, while MySpace handles everything on-site.

One trouble spot for MySpace may be the lack of a complete solution.  While Apple offers hardware and software -- everything needed for a complete music solution, MySpace is not getting into the physical MP3 player business.  While its tracks can play on iPods, it does not have the all inclusiveness which Apple enjoys.  Another sticky spot may simply be how entrenched Apple is among users who are willing to legally buy music.

MySpace Music has some high profile advertisers for its launch -- McDonalds, State Farm, Toyota, and Sony Pictures Entertainment.  In an amusing play Sony Pictures Entertainment is running ads on users’ integrated players, advertising its upcoming indie flick, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist.  Toyota will be giving away free songs on Tuesdays.

Jamster is partnering with MySpace to offer downloadable ringtones.

The new service sells mostly DRM-free tracks from Amazon.  The file format is 256 kbps mp3 and tracks start as low as $0.89, cheaper than iTunes’ $0.99 starting rate.  The current catalog features 5 million songs, compared to iTunes' 8 million songs.