MySpace = Record Labels 2.0

by DanReich on December 19, 2008

in Digital Media,Music

When MySpace first announced their MySpace Music agenda, I remember thinking, “It’s ‘about fu$!ng time”.

Lately, whenever I want to listen to some tunes by a particular artist, I find myself going to their MySpace page. If I want to listen to streaming music, I’m either always signed on to Sirius, using Pandora or Last.fm, but when it comes to any one individual artist, I jump onto MySpace.

To me, MySpace is becoming an interactive record store, where artists can advertise their latest tracks or band using MySpace MyAds. You can buy the music right then and there through Amazon, and on top of that, you’ve got the artists tour dates, video messages, promotions, and whatever else they think is good to throw at you.

As the RIAA continues to straighten out its own agenda, with their latest announcement…

Music Industry to Abandon Mass Suits

…MySpace will slowly emerge as the new record label of the decade, if they continue to focus on music networking.

Cool video by Kanye West (from his MySpace page):

[myspace]http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=47150156[/myspace]

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{ 7 comments }

Stacer25s December 19, 2008 at 12:28 pm

If the record labels and artists are cool with giving their music away for free that's great.. but how would they make money then?

dherman76 December 19, 2008 at 12:28 pm

How is MySpace the label? Aren't you focusing more on distribution?

danreich December 19, 2008 at 12:34 pm

Right. Distribution is going to be the number one factor. Sites like tubemogul and other syndication channels will be huge and the most important. MySpace would be secondary to a really good distribution solution.

However, as long as they focus on Music, which they seem to be really good at (every aspiring artist I've talked to goes to MySpace first), they would be in good position to offer solutions related to music marketing, promotions, independent sales, etc.

danreich December 19, 2008 at 12:36 pm

Many artists today are still of the belief that if they get their songs played and hear, even for free, they can get signed by a major record label. This may be true, but what's the point?

Just look at what Radiohead did. Allowed users to pay what they wanted for their album, and they did it all online. Their overhead was less, they had not contractual obligation to a record label, and they made out like bandits. There will be more innovation in this space. MySpace is in a position to help facilitate that process…if they stay focused…

Stacer25s December 19, 2008 at 1:02 pm

A few things… for distribution… MY space is just one channel but itunes is more for distribution..mininova.org and piratebay.org are distribution channels that are free also… so how do they make money if folks who are willing to pay only pay a couple of bucks for a song ? ringtones? TV shows, movies, concerts… but how many of those artists really can make money from those? it's the sponsors who are paying them far greater than the record album.. and to radioheads credit.. they and others have to start taking into their own hands if they want to make a living at recording music.

Stacer25s December 19, 2008 at 1:53 pm

I totally agree.. you need eyeballs and a channel to promote it.. myspace has the numbers… but how do these artists eat if they aren't making any money? My space isn't going to put $$ in their pockets…

huangqin July 15, 2009 at 6:46 am

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