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Among those who have rejected the CEO slot at MySpace Music are Topspin Media CEO Ian Rogers; former AOL executive Jim Bankoff, now with buyout firm Providence Equity Partners; BigChampagne Inc. chief executive Eric Garland; and Benchmark Capital entrepreneur-in-residence Dave Goldberg, formerly of Launch Media Inc. and Yahoo Music. MySpace Music will include a digital-rights-management-free music store intended to compete with Apple Inc.'s [AAPL] iTunes, and will also offer a library of full-length streaming songs. The joint venture is majority-owned by MySpace Inc., with Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment Inc. and Warner Music Group Corp. [WMG] also holding equity stakes. The music industry's fourth major label, EMI Group plc, is expected to come on board eventually. Independent labels may contribute music to the service but have not received equity, causing some consternation. See the full story on MySpace Music from TheDeal.com Comments
From: Universal Indie Records,
I think they'll have the same problems as the had with Sno-Cap. When people think of purchasing music, they just don't think MySpace. It's going to take a lot of branding money to change that train of thought.
Posted on:
August 12, 2008 4:01 PM
From: Paul Bonanos,
Thanks, Mr. Mojo. Among streaming sites, MySpace Music will compete with more than just Imeem. CBS-owned Last.fm also has an on-demand service, although they've had trouble keeping Warner on board. (Warner is among Imeem's investors too.) MySpace and News Corp. could buy a smaller online music company to add technology or content depth to MySpace Music, but Imeem's not a candidate, and based on the upshot of the post above, a deal isn't likely to happen soon.
Posted on:
August 12, 2008 4:07 PM
From: Paul Bonanos,
That's very possible, Indie. They've got plenty branding money, but also a perception to overcome. Still, AmazonMP3 is gaining market share against iTunes, so it's possible that customers who have been loath to purchase song files with DRM will seek out alternatives. Paul
Posted on:
August 12, 2008 4:14 PM
From: Musician Outlet Network,
Incredibly late and astonishing ilogical for MySpace to launch such online program. People want the songs at their price - FREE, if they can get it! Too late - Too late for MySpace. The new generation of music fans will not agree with this concept. Its not working for major labels and will not work with their assistance on this matter. Too late - Too late... MON
Posted on:
August 19, 2008 9:47 AM
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Myspace's dominance has always been more a matter of luck than anything else, they accidently built a music heavy site with the original myspace but now they're trying to create a music focused service the cracks are starting to show.
It's interesting to mention that Snocap was acquired by imeem because myspace has been openly hostile to imeem, they've banned imeem music players from user's pages and even went so far as to censor any mention of 'imeem.com' on myspace. Since this blocking began early last year it's a good indication that myspace has been (poorly) planning their music site for at least as long and saw imeem as the biggest threat.