The clock is ticking

Inklings of an ad-supported music strategy have appeared on MySpace, thanks to an upcoming promotion with mobile music distributor Textango.

Coming in March, those that add Textango's MySpace profile as a friend can download veteran punk band Pennywise's latest album free of charge, according to Adweek.

Textango hopes the move will build awareness of its service, whereby users text a band's name to Textango in exchange for a code to download music on its website.

Charges for the music are added to the mobile carrier bill.

As the record industry continues to decline and bands like Radiohead seek new payment models, ad-supported music is growing in popularity.

Ad-supported music service Ruckus fetches 20 million downloads per month; Imeem has attracted 18 million users and three major labels; and Spiral Frog launched in September with 800,000 tracks.

Recently ad-supported music firm RCRD LBL launched, drawing sponsorship from major names like Nikon. On RCRD LBL, users can download MP3s at no charge.