NEW MySpace Music Site Launches! Step up, Competition or Antitrust?
MySpace’s brand new joint venture music site launches tonight. Sony, Warner, EMI and Universal are all in on the deal. However, there are some concerns of an anti-trust lawsuit arising.
According to Michael Arrington the MySpace Music will also be used to discover new music(Like on Imeem or Last.fm):
This isn’t just streaming music on demand. The playlist functionality and sharing will let users discover new music as well from the 5 million artists (a mix of major, unknown, and indie acts) that populate MySpace Music.
MySpace will promote popular playlists from users and will also create their own Top 100 lists from all users as well as just your friends, coworkers, etc. So each user will have personalized music recommendations from their friends. [ Read Full Article ]
I’m still not sure if this is enough of a reason for me to use MySpace. However, this will be a big deal for most music artists. Independent artists can also use MySpace Music so it will be a big deal for them also.
As far a competition goes, I don’t know how this will have an affect on Imeem, Last.fm, ITunes etc. There’s also some controversy over weather or not the joint venture is breaking competition laws. Is there some antitrust and price discrimination going on with MySpace?
I think if MySpace was ever going to open a music site, there’s no time like the present. MySpace just HAD to act to keep them alive. They have a fan base that every social network envies. But the fact is, MySpace sucks compared to other popular networks in the design and functionality sense.
This was a smart move, MySpace needs to get into the groove of things because their somewhat lagging, but it might just be my opinion.
It’s suppose to launch tonight at 9:00, so we’ll see how it goes.
September 25, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Myspace is coming late in this market so the Gang[Sony, Warner, EMI and Universal] makes sense for them, iTunes model is a bit tough one to break since the penetration of itunes and ipod..lets wait and watch.
September 25, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Thanks for the comment chirax:)
I use Last.fm, Imeem, Facebook and SoundClick often. Myspace just never cut it for me because of their failure to recognize how bad navigating your personal profile actually was.
I think it was a smart business move, like hell their not going to loose anything–tons of artists are going to use it for sure. Even if it isn’t the new leader, it’s still something MySpace had to do to expand.
September 26, 2008 at 4:34 am
Yep there is a point, but for god sakes I am sick of so many social networking sites.
we need just one right?
September 26, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Well, it depends. Some social networks offer things that other don’t. I think if we have the time it’s okay to sing up to a few. But hell, I think a social network that just does what you want it to do, instead of lagging and confusing the hell out of you would refreshing.
Kind of one of my goals for a music network I’m developing, now that there’s so many different music networks I’m inspired to make something a little different.