The New York Post is reporting that Sony BMG and Warner Music Group are gearing up to sign an agreement with MySpace to launch its upcoming digital-music joint venture: MySpace Music.

The agreements could be signed as soon as this week. The service is expected to launch later this year. The labels don't want any upfront money either, they're instead trading content rights in exchange for minority equity stakes in MySpace Music and a revenue-share that News Corp. hopes to generate from the service.

"Everybody's operating with a sense of urgency to try to close it out," said one industry insider to The Post.

The business model? Ad-supported audio mixed with good ol' fashion pay-per-download music.

Silicon Alley Insider points out that the creation of MySpace Music would give the labels their own competitor to iTunes that they so desire. That, no doubt, adds to the "sense of urgency" as the music labels would prefer to control their own digital destiny, rather than have Apple dictate it to them.

"The concept of the joint venture is to bring in all forms of [making money from digital music] and much more tightly integrate them," said another person familiar with the negotiations.

[New York Post via Silicon Alley Insider]
Photo: MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe and News Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch speak at the Web 2.0 summit... caption contest anyone?