Can MySpace's Grand Experiment Help Save the Music Industry?

MySpace's grand music experiment is launching this month -- and it'll be as much a test of how advertisers can help underwrite the music industry as it will be of the portal's most ambitious launch since, well, its own birth four years ago.

McDonald's, State Farm and Toyota are the first three advertisers to sign sponsorship deals around MySpace Music, a joint venture among the popular social network and major music labels that will milk many different revenue streams, including advertising and sponsorship, paid song downloads and ringtones, and concert-ticket and merchandise sales.