A new video service, MySpace Music Videos, launches today in the US,
Austroalis and New Zealand, aggregating fully licensed music video content
from the four major labels, as well as several independents.
MySpace could not put a figure on the number of videos being made available
through the platform, however, it already has deals in place with the four
major record labels and some independents through MySpace Music, its free
ad-supported streaming service – which is live in the US and imminently
expected to launch in the UK. When this happens, MySpace UK users will also
gain access to the video content.
The News Corp-owned company claims that the video service is unique because no
other services has the back catalogue from all four major music labels,
combined with every music artists’ profile and fully available audio tracks
on top of a social network – enabling the sharing of content via social
tools.
There are new recommendation tools, a new hub for the videos to sit within on
the site, a new video search engine and full music video catalogues
available in artist music players.
iLike, the music sharing app acquired by MySpace in August for approximately
$20 million, will also now feature the MySpace Music Video catalogue within
its partner websites, including Facebook – where iLike is the most popular
social music app. MySpace is hoping the changes will drive people back to
the site from other social networks. The app was the first acquisition
MySpace made and this is the first time the company have used its asset to
try and lure people to its platform.
Additionally MySpace Music users in the US, Australia and New Zealand now have
the option to purchase songs via iTunes. Previously Amazon.com powered the
downloads but now the load will be shared between the two companies.
MySpace Artist Dashboard is also launching worldwide today. This free tool
allows all artists and labels unlimited access to charts, graphs and
snapshots of MySpace music data relating to the profiles and regularity of
their listeners.
The dashboard data will be able to shows artists where there fans come from,
which songs are being played the most, profile views, friend count and the
number profile visitors. Trending data will be available for seven day and
30 day glances and there is also heat map showing usership.
iLike has been integrated into this dashboard to show how many people are
listening or following a person’s band across other social platforms.
The artist dashboard is available in 17 languages in over 20 territories.
Courtney Holt, president of MySpace Music, said: “Bands have never had access
to proper data about themselves which can they then can use to understand
how to promote themselves better and communicate more effectively with fans.
The suite of new features have been launched as part of a refocusing of
strategy by Owen Van Natta, who is trying to move the brand away from social
networking towards an entertainment content distribution platform.
“When I joined MySpace I had to refocus the product road map around the things
which make MySpace fundamentally different – mainly the socialisation of
content. Figuring out how people can discover content through others and how
you can share content – we have been focusing on that for the last five and
s half months and the changes are starting to come out now,” explained Mr
Van Natta.
He said music was the springboard from which it will be focussing all other
strategy changes around – but there would also be similar development around
TV, games and film.
MySpace is suffering declining monthly usership around the world of late and
has been trying to distance itself from Facebook and explain their key
differences. A renewed focus on music, and other form of content, is in the
hope that former users stay but also recommend friends once again to visit
the site.
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