Are Labels slowly waking up to online radios potential?

'Usually tuned to AOL's online radio when I'm on my computer; 'which got me reading-up on the latest from that struggling biz -- 'artists and labels pulling music from iTunes in hopes of juicing album sales...' -- (sounds-kinda-dumb, eh).

I am, however, 'liking Yahoo's newest stripped-down music venture: which is playing Other People's Music Businesses

How it works: Using Yahoo search, type in the name of an artist. If it's one of the 10,000 or so Yahoo is working with at launch, you'll get a results page that looks like this:

This player pops up that allows folks to listen to full songs on-the-free. I played around with it, and it's fun. There is a catch, you can only listen to 25 songs a month before you need to sign up for subscription.

On the economic end of the music biz -- 'it's been a depressing summer for the delusional record industry,' complains Ad Age.

'We're seeing a total disconnect between labels' unrealistic, old-school revenue expectations and what the market can bear. On the streaming-music front in particular, the sad reality is that advertising revenue isn't, and may never be, there to fully support the music industry's wishful-thinking profit margins.'

If MySpace has it's way this fall -- 'Free streaming music will become the standard on the Web --'legitimizing the advertising-supported model that is beginning to challenge iTunes’ pay-per-download approach. It will be more akin to a subscription model like Rhapsody’s, but without the subscription,' says Tech Crunch.

Speaking of music...'Heard the new track from Singer/songwriter Tracy Chapman, 'she's releasing her first new album in years.
'Our Bright Future' is due out in November this single, called 'Sing For You' -- is now just making airwaves -- (with some radio play).

Personally speaking...'I'm lovin' it.

Check it out (below).