Was it any coincidence that Apple decided to trumpet its victory as the biggest U.S. retailer of music on the same day the world’s biggest social network declared its intentions to provide an alternative?

Who knows? What’s certain is Apple now faces another in a growing legion of competitors aiming to chip away at its dominance.

Here’s what the experts think:

James McQuivey, analyst at Forrester Research:
“A MySpace music store is exactly the right step to get the music industry to the next level because it recognizes that consumers don’t just buy music, they experience it, which is a much larger concept — they share, they discover, they heckle, they even use it to provide self-identify. That’s what people do with music already on MySpace, it’s what has made Last.FM and Imeem.com so popular so quickly. But none of those experiences take it to the next level, allowing consumer to integrate buying music and related things. ”

Ben Drury CEO of 7Digital, a UK-based digital music service:
“Initially, this looks like a positive move for consumers. DRM is still a big issue for a lot of music fans and this latest announcement is further evidence that the majors are moving away from it all together. Competition to iTunes’ domination of the market is always good news, as it helps drive competitive pricing in the digital music sector. However, the quality of the user experience may still be an issue. MySpace pages are chaotic due to the levels of customisation and could easily put consumers off the service. It will also be interesting to see how many consumers, or parents of young consumers, will be willing to hand their credit card details over to MySpace when buying music.”

Paul Myers Chief Executive Wippit (digital music service):
“I think the effect that MySpace has had on music has been hyped out of control. Half truths or misunderstandings like those that the Arctic Monkeys or Lily Allen were broke on MySpace have become accepted as fact in some circles. And it’s a problem that might hurt it in the long run as the majority of friend requests most people get on MySpace these days are from aspiring musicians plugging their wares and not old friends or new acquaintances. If it carries on MySpace will become a service of aspiring musicians, spamming aspiring musicians, spamming aspiring musicians.”

Watch out Steve! MySpace is days away from unveiling a site that actually may give Apple’s  iTunes some competition in the digital music space.
Sources familiar with the matter tell Reuters that a joint venture between MySpace and at least three major music companies offering music streaming, MP3 downloads, concert tickets, ringtones and merchandise is just days away.
Sony BMG Music, Universal Music Group and Warner Music will have a stake in the venture they hope will take a bite out of Apple’s grip on their industry. It’s unclear if EMI Group, the fourth-largest music label, will be involved.
The labels have been talking for weeks with News Corp’s MySpace, but a 2006 copyright lawsuit by market leader Universal against MySpace has been a sticking point. Imagine a music company suing over copyright! One source said that suit could be settled in time for the announcement.
It’s not clear when MySpace Music would be launched.
All the companies either declined to comment or were not immediately available.
Long singing the blues over Apple’s strong-armed pricing tactics, some big labels have refused to sign long-term deals with iTunes, now the No. 2 music retailer in the U.S.
Will MySpace Music hit a chord with Steve Jobs, who may finally need to change his tune to sweeten the pot for the record companies?

The Live Nation touring and merchandising agreement with supergroup U2 could be worth $100 million estimates one Wall Street analyst.

Live Nation, a tour promoter that is evolving rapidly into an all-round music company, has prepped a 12-year deal with supergroup U2 which includes its merchandising, digital, image licensing in addition to its touring but hasn’t revealed how much money will change hands (not to us anyway).

However David Joyce, media analyst at Miller Tabak, ventures that the deal will be in the $100 million range. Joyce, who likes Live Nation’s prospects, has based his guesstimate on the $120 million figure that Live Nation is widely believed to have agreed with Madonna in cash and stock last year.

The Madonna deal was a much more far-reaching partnership that included three albums over 10 years. While the U2 pact doesn’t include recording, it’s a longer term deal with a bigger live act says Joyce.

What does $100 million get you these days? Well for 12 years Live Nation can print as many ‘U2 waz ‘ere 2018 World Tour’ t-shirts as they can sell, and they might be able to convince a few more big pop names to come on board the touring/merchandise all-you-can-eat fiesta now that they have Madonna and U2 on their calling card. But will they make their money back? That’s the big question.

Joyce cautions that the record labels want a piece of the action as well:

“Will the music label companies, facing continued secular decline in their traditional album-selling business, get into the concert promotion, artist merchandising, and fan website business with their currently signed artists, thereby fending off Live Nation’s expansion attempts?”

That appears likely, especially as Live Nation works quickly to formalize deeper relationships with the biggest names in pop and may be willing to pay more than the labels at present. It’s shaping up to be an arms race that could end up getting very expensive.

(Photo: Reuters)