MySpace finally learns how to carry a tune
MySpace is loaded with music fans (almost a third of its claimed 110 million users listen to music on the site) and loaded with music makers (the company says 5 million acts promote themselves on the site). That kind of critical mass has cried out for the one missing piece that makes the world go round — a way to make money off of all that enthusiasm. Now, after years of talking about it, MySpace has a plan.
Today the social site announced it had reached a deal with three of the four big record labels (that would be Universal, Sony and Warner, and fourth-place EMI may yet come aboard) for a joint online music venture creatively dubbed MySpace Music. The service, to be rolled out over the next few months, will function through the site’s musician profile pages, enabling recording artists to sell music downloads, concert tickets and merchandise. No information on pricing for streams or downloads was revealed, nor were the digital rights management details, although the labels will do at least some experimenting with unrestricted file formats. In a conference call, MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe offered this modest assessment: “It’s an unprecedented effort … truly history in the making — a real collaborative effort between MySpace and the music companies.”
The idea sounds sensible in principle, but neither the labels nor MySpace has exactly been adept at climbing aboard the digital sales bandwagon, so we’ll need to see the execution before deciding if Apple and Amazon have anything to worry about. Pali Capital analyst Rich Greenfield, for one, thinks the service could blossom. “They have a huge community that wants to talk, share and learn about music,” he said. “Nobody else has that. There is music discovery happening on MySpace that is far deeper and broader than what’s going on on iTunes.”
“almost a third of its claimed 110 million users listen to music”
What else would they do with it? Are there really 67 million people who don’t listen to music? What a terribly sad thought. Please say it ain’t so.
As long as Myspace is trying to do this in collaboration with the record labels then iTunes and Amazon have nothing to worry about. The first high volume internet portal that starts signing deals with the musicians directly (cutting out the label middle-men) to distribute their music will be on to something.