Facebook have told TechCrunch "we have no plans to launch a music service", which is a pretty unequivocal statement and probably means Facebook Music will go live on Monday.

There has been chatter for years now that Facebook would launch some sort of proprietary music service to compete with MySpace's music platform, the strong link to music being the latter's only real USP over the former for sometime now.

For a while Facebook were in talks with Universal's ultimately canned digital music venture TotalMusic, and had Universal been able to persuade all of its major label competitors to get involved (it was Warner who were the main hold out) a Facebook-branded TotalMusic streaming and download service might now be operational.

After Facebook and TotalMusic stopped working together, talk of a Facebook music service died down. But MySpace's acquisition of iLike last year made some speculate that Facebook might again look to create some sort of official music facility, given that iLike control the most popular music-based third-party app used by Facebook users.

TechCrunch approached the social networking firm for clarification on its music plans this week, after someone noticed a mysterious official looking 'music app' was appearing in some people's application settings lists on Facebook. But the social networking company say that was a mistake.

If Facebook have decided once and for all to stay out of the digital music domain that's probably good news for MySpace, who are increasingly positioning themselves as an entertainment platform rather than a true social networking community. It's just a shame that the expanded MySpace Music service - launched here in the UK late last year of course - is so totally awful. It's enjoyed some success in the US, but when Spotify launches there (or more American music fans start to discover Grooveshark), you really have to wonder how long MySpace's music service can continue to trundle along in its current form.

So, according to Wired magazine, the fools at MySpace delivered a late Christmas present to bloggers worldwide who had Imeem widgets embedded on their web pages, by replacing the Imeem-powered playlists and streaming tracks with generic untargeted ads for ringtone services and the MySpace Music website. Because presumably what said bloggers really wanted to appear below their editorialised introduction to whatever song they'd carefully selected from the Imeem catalogue was a bright orange banner ad pushing Lady Gaga ringtones.

As previously reported, MySpace Music bought the Imeem user database for a bargain basement price last month as its Warner Music-backed rival spiralled into a gloomy oblivion. The social networking giant wasn't so keen to take on any of Imeem's liabilities, meaning that as soon as MySpace had bought up the usable bits, the rest of Imeem's operations were quickly switched off to ensure no new licensing fees were added to the collapsing company's debts. Such was the need to avoid any new Imeem liabilities there was no opportunity to put systems in place to softly migrate Imeem users over to MySpace's comparable services. 

This meant Imeem users were immediately re-directed to a page on the MySpace Music website where they were greeted with the fabulous news that none of their playlists or user data would be available if they chose to sign up for the social networking giant's own already pretty shoddy streaming music service. The holding page says that Imeem users' personal data will be available via their MySpace accounts in due course, though it's not currently clear how that will be done or how long it will take.

Given the Imeem site was switched off overnight, it was inevitable that any Imeem-powered widgets embedded by music fans on their own blogs or websites would stop working too. To be fair, as soon as MySpace had agreed to take over those widgets they were caught between a rock and a hard place. Assuming it was impossible to continue pumping a streaming track or public playlist into the space occupied by the embedded widget, whatever Team MySpace chose to plonk in that spot instead wasn't going to be well received.

The only good solution would have been to utilise another of MySpace's recent acquisitions - iLike - which likewise streams music onto other people's websites via an embedded flash player. But, realistically, getting iLike to match track for track every song being streamed via an Imeem widget with next to no notice wasn't going to happen. Still, surely something better than the bright orange ringtone ads that appeared last week could have been used to replace the old Imeem streams.

All in all, in PR terms MySpace's acquisition of Imeem has been pretty disastrous. Imeem users lose (temporarily at least) their personal data, bloggers get bright orange ads plonked on their sites and, as also previously reported, unsigned bands selling their music via Imeem's Snocap tool won't receive any of the royalties they were owed. And everyone will blame MySpace for these developments. Even though none of it is really MySpace's fault, it was Imeem that fell over leaving all its users stranded. Then again, opting to run bright orange ads in place of the embedded Imeem player was a MySpace decision, and bosses there chose to do the deal with the faltering music service in the first place, which was probably unwise.

True the social networking giant got a large database of email addresses by doing the deal, but how many of those former Imeem users will really become loyal MySpace Music members given the calamities of the transition. Particularly when you consider most of those users had probably already used and rejected all things MySpace before signing up with Imeem in the first place. 

Still, all of this adds to the stuff we can talk about when we finally get to write MySpace Music's obituary. Which will be in, well, hey, place your bets people.

In a slight irony, bands selling music via MySpace's original digital music partner are likely to lose out on monies owed for past sales, because of MySpace's acquisition of said company.

Those with long memories will remember that, long before MySpace set up the MySpace Music company and launched its expanded streaming music service, it had a short lived partnership with a company called Snocap.

Snocap was the company set up by the original Napster founder Shawn Fanning. Originally, it planned to provide the technology that would be required by the licensed P2P file-sharing networks that about seventeen people assumed would come into being after the infamous MGM v Grokster ruling in the US courts forced a number of illegal P2P companies out of business.

But said licensed P2P networks never materialised, mainly because the major labels wouldn't even consider licensing such things. Snocap, therefore, began to dabble in other areas of digital music, its most notable new product being an embeddable download store, which unsigned bands and indie labels could use to provide MP3 sell-through via social network profile pages.

That product received a boost in 2006 when MySpace sanctioned it as the official way for unsigned and independent artists to sell their music on MySpace. Take up wasn't phenomenal, but over time some 110,000 artists started using the Snocap widget.

Meanwhile Snocap started to work with Imeem, providing technology more in the domain of the company's original area of expertise, the 'fingerprinting' stuff that would have been used by licensed P2P networks. Despite its MySpace and Imeem partnerships, though, Snocap faced increasing financial difficulties and early last year was bought out by Imeem.

While all this was happening, MySpace moved away from championing the Snocap download widget and launched its own streaming music service - MySpace Music - forging sell-through partnerships with iTunes and Amazon. Then last week MySpace Music bought Imeem in a bargain basement deal. Which means MySpace now owns the Snocap widget it once championed, right?

Well, no. The reason the Imeem website went offline within hours of the MySpace deal last week is that the News Corp-owned social network didn't buy its rival outright, rather it bought parts of Imeem - it's name, user database and some technology. It didn't take on Imeem's liabilities, which is why the existing Imeem website had to be turned off so quickly - even though Imeem's users profiles and playlists hadn't been transferred over to MySpace Music - so no new licensing liabilities were created.

Among the liabilities not picked up by MySpace, and therefore now likely to remain unpaid, are the accounts of the 110,000 bands who were using the Snocap widget.

According to Wired, Snocap were meant to pay out on a monthly basis whenever sales totalled over $20, but in the last year they hadn't been so good at doing so without prompting. In reality, the sums of money owed to most bands would be nominal; the Wired article mentions one band who managed to get paid shortly before Imeem collapsed who were paid $400. However, for the unsigned bands involved, that sort of money would probably be a much needed bit of revenue.

Of course, there was no obligation on MySpace to takeover Imeem's liabilities, and bosses there would have been fools to do so (God knows what the bigger music rights owners were owed). And it's not MySpace's fault that both Snocap and Imeem ultimately failed, though had they not lost interest in the Snocap widget quite so soon after the big fanfare they gave the launch of their partnership with the company perhaps the sell-through platform would have gained more momentum.

But either way, while MySpace aren't really to blame, the social networking firm has again got itself in a position where it is seen to screw over the very bands that helped it get established in the digital music space in the first place. Which is fun.