Cash-strapped music lovers will not be limited by their thin wallets when MySpace merges with three major record companies to revamp the social networking website’s music section, which will give users the ability to listen and download the labels’ entire music libraries.

MySpace announced April 3 that Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group will become partial-owners of the company as part of the website’s rejuvenation, and will provide easier searches, more applications and widgets, a MySpace official confirmed. Advertising and revenue from downloads will pay for the new site, which should be up later this year, the MySpace spokesman confirmed.

The website is not trying to compete with iTunes, rather it only wants to aid its users to a better music experience, the MySpace official said. An iTunes spokesman refused to comment about the impact the redesigned MySpace would have on sales.

The MySpace spokesman insisted the site does not want to abandon smaller-market artists because they make up a major portion of its users.

Scott White, president of the marketing company Brand Identity Guru, said the site may be too late to get into the music download game, and said he thinks Facebook will overtake MySpace eventually.

“Someone will invent some music application that will do the same thing that MySpace is doing now, only more people will use it on Facebook,” he said.

Sony, Universal and Warner joined the online music community as partial owners of MySpace to help their companies, White said, because the Internet is the future of the music business.

Peter Geisheker, chief executive officer of marketing company The Geisheker Group Inc., said smaller bands and record companies may feel abandoned by the website. Before MySpace, mp3.com was the Internet’s primary place for independent artists to publish their music.

“They did the same thing, teamed up with large record labels to promote popular artists,” he said. “Within one year, mp3.com went out of business.”

Some smaller artists are also concerned about the effect a major corporation’s presence will have on MySpace’s independent music scene.

Dan Goldenberg, a Boston University College of Communication junior and drummer for the band You Can Be a Wesley, said he hopes record companies will take the opportunity to explore MySpace and all of the unsigned talent and perhaps give unknown bands the opportunity of a record deal.

He said it is more likely that popular artists will get more attention than the unknown acts and push smaller artists down in search results.

Goldenberg said MySpace is the easiest place to share music for free and promote bands and their shows. Music companies are catching on to the trend as a way of promoting bands and their shows, he said.

“I hope they don’t exploit the smaller bands,” he said.