Startup social networking site imeem, which lets users listen to and share their favorite music online, said that it signed a deal to access the catalog of Universal Music Group. This makes imeem the first company to offer free unlimited songs and music videos from all four major record labels.

imeem is the leading social media network where users create, recommend and discover music, film/video, art, and pop culture media and connect directly with people with similar tastes. By offering innovative media expression tools and social discovery features, including custom music playlists, video channels, photo slideshows and blogs, the imeem community can share their tastes with friends and fans on imeem and across the Web.

imeem is the first social network to partner with all four major labels as well as thousands of indie labels and video providers to offer free, on-demand streaming of all music and video content on an ad-supported basis. Since the launch of its Web-based service www.imeem.com in March 2006, the community has attracted over 19 million unique users each month. imeem was the fastest growing social site in the U.S. in September and October 2007. [imeem]

Imeem allows users to stream, but not download, an unlimited number of songs and videos and makes money by selling advertising. It shares ad revenues with its label partners. This represents a big challenge for imeem, since the music industry is very hesitant about ad-supported business models due to labels not making as much profit per song from advertising as they make through downloads. However, the site includes links to both iTunes and Amazon in case users want to purchase the tracks.

Imeem will face several ad-supported competitors such as SpiralFrog, which lets users download free tracks, and Rhapsody, which lets users stream only 25 songs per month.