Lifestyle brand sponsorship of digital music are bubbling over. Three services now have soda pop brand to bootstrap usage in the early stages

* OD2 has Coca-Cola and is already live.

* iTunes and Pepsi will launch at halftime during Superbowl XXXVIII.

* MusicMatch has teamed with Sprite.

We've officially entered the primary season for the new retailers. I contend that whoever is unable to secure a corporate sponsor will fall far behind the others in this competition. The strategy of using someone else's money to make legal music essentially free is what will give digital retailers monetary parity with P2P services and allow them to quickly increase usership.

It remains a question whether corporate sponsorship of music purchases becomes the norm.