Following last week's US launch of News Corp's MySpace Music service, this week sees the launch of the site for unsigned musicians and indie hopefuls LP33.tv, previously known as MyAWOL.
LP33 has set out to create a platform for finding and promoting unsigned bands and musicians, with the site centred around a video player showing music videos, short band docs and news, produced by LP33's in-house team of hipster VJs and bloggers.
Just like with MySpace, artists get to create their own profile pages, via which they can stream their music for free.
The key difference is that the LP33.tv editors choose those musicians they want to feature in the original video content – essentially an edgier and (potentially) more interesting version of MTV's Total Request Live.
Editorial edginess
The success (or failure) of LP33.tv centres on its editorial and production values and its ability to attract a significant chunk of the audience away from the likes of MySpace.
Artists can also create and sell ringtones, merchandise, and (of course) MP3s of their music.
LP33.tv's parent company has also recently launched The MIDB which it hopes will grow into the definitive database for all music-related professionals.
