The Return Of MySpace

MySpace Will Relaunch Later This Year. Justin Timberlake Is The Creative Director Of The Site Now.

MySpace was one of the hottest assets in the social networking scene until Facebook toppled it in 2008. But even then, MySpace managed to retain a loyal following among musicians that appreciated how easy it was to have their own work hosted online for all to sample. Yet, platforms like Bandcamp and Soundcloud began depriving MySpace of even these. Defeated, MySpace was finally bought by Specific Media in June for a pittance of its former value ($35 million).

And now, after a couple of months of silence Specific Media has announced the relaunch of MySpace. This time around, the focus will be on beating services like Spotify and iTunes. The launch campaign that has been planned will feature a wealth of celebrities and brands acting as promotional partners. Justin Timberlake (who owns a stake in the company) will be the site’s creative director. Timberlake has often expressed his belief that MySpace still has the potential to be the place where “fans can go to interact with their favorite entertainers, listen to music, watch videos, share and discover cool stuff and just connect.”

When it was at its height, MySpace managed to have 70 million unique visitors each month in the United States alone. Even today it gets about 20 million monthly visitors.

Yet, it remains to be seen what impact can the rebranded MySpace have in a scene dominated by services and apps like Spotify, Bandcamp and Turnatble.fm. Even YouTube is a threat to it nowadays – many people who fled MySpace actually went to the popular video sharing service, and opened up their own channels there.

So, what do you think? Is it possible for MySpace to stand in the limelight back again, or has the service basically had its day? Sound off in the “Comments” below, I’d love to know how you feel, and whether you’re giving the “new” MySpace a look when it finally comes around.

Swift.fm Relaunches As A Platform For Sharing Music In A More Global Way

The name of Swift.fm might as well be familiar to those of you who are active on the Twitterverse. The site launched about one year and a half ago, and it basically stood as a Twitter-powered platform for the sharing of songs. Then again, you might not. It didn’t pick that much traction, despite some famous musicians (most notably rappers) singing it praises. Well, Swift.fm is back with a vengeance – the whole platform has been revamped in order to let people share music on practically all the main social networking sites available today.

 

 

This is how it works. People who join Swift.fm (it costs nothing) can link their MySpace, Twitter, Facebook and Last.fm accounts together, and share their own music (and the music that they have discovered online) with everybody and his wife. That is, provided everybody and/or his wife can access the Internet in one way or the other. But I think we can count on that in this day and age, right?

And the discovery quotient of the whole platform is pretty high, since users can follow their friends and see what music they have been sharing/uploading more recently. Continue reading

MTV Beats Vevo As The Online Destination For Watching Music Videos

MTV Becomes The Premier Destination For Watching Music Videos Once Again

MTV Becomes The Premier Destination For Watching Music Videos Once Again

People my age (IE, 30-somethings) mostly remember MTV as the place to tune into when you wanted to watch music videos and discover new bands, not to watch an endless succession of reality shows and similar “hip” content.

Everybody agrees that the Internet drove the final nail in the coffin for MTV, stealing what audience it had left and creating a whole new hierarchy for the discovery of new talent.

The irony is that now MTV.com has become the premier destination for people wanting to watch music videos, well ahead of Vevo. A recent survey by comScore shows that MTV had over 53 million unique visitors in August, whereas Vevo came in second with 49 million. Continue reading

Audition For The Next Season Of American Idol Via MySpace

Now You Can Audition For American Idol Via MySpace

Now You Can Audition For American Idol Via MySpace

Are you the kind who grinds his teeth when watching American Idol, and slur “Heck, I could sing much better than that one! If only I had had the chance…”. Well, if you aren’t on the upcoming season there will be no excuses. From now on, American Idol will let people audition via the Internet.

All that you have to do is to record a short video (no longer than 40 seconds) and submit it via MySpace. The song has to be chosen from an approved online list, and you will have to perform it entirely a capella. Continue reading

Ping Vs. MySpace – Who Is Going To Win?

Steve Jobs Ping

Apple unveiled Ping almost two weeks ago. Punters and experts alike were calling it a MySpace killer on the weeks prior to its release. More than a handful of people thought it would take the crown of the social network for music hands down.

Well, it turns out MySpace was much tougher than it seemed. Its huge userbase is not jumping ship that easily. And the over-commercialism of Ping dented its own credibility.

Tech blog Mashable recently polled its readers. They had to choose whether they preferred Ping or MySpace. The results?

42.3% (785 votes) MySpace
27.4% (509 votes) Ping Continue reading