The music industry has had a tough time of it for the past decade or so…but help may be on the way. According to a news story reported in Business Week, MySpace Music is about to launch in a few days.
MySpace Music is a joint venture between News Corp.’s social networking site and the three largest record labels—Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, and Warner Music.
This effort is a direct response to the plummeting revenue that music labels have been experiencing since 1999. Part of the reason for the decline is online music piracy…but some would argue that it also reflects a shortage of hit records. Whatever the cause, record labels are trying new tricks to monetize their creative assets.
According to Business Week,
The idea behind MySpace Music is that it can help generate revenue for artists every day, not just around an album’s release. The venture gives the labels access to MySpace’s global audience of 118 million users and its ad sales team of more than 250 people. It also provides the labels with a prominent venue to pull in audiences and advertisers with new types of nonmusic content, including music news, behind-the-scenes videos, and artist interviews.
MySpace is designed to do more than bring in ad revenue, though. It also gives the industry a new channel through which to sell songs, ringtones, T-shirts, and tickets. With 5 million artists using the site to promote their bands, MySpace has already become a major destination for discovering new music and upcoming concerts.
One thing is fairly clear–the major record labels have been slow to embrace new media and only time will tell if this is a case of “better late than never,” or “too little, too late!” What do you think? Will MySpace Music revive the ailing music industry?
Seeing now the affect that myspace music has had, it obviously hasn’t helped the music industry much. It was however a very good idea. The fact is that social networking is like a phase that people go through, everyone had a myspace, now everyone has a facebook, who knows what we will have next, maybe everyone will convert to a twitter. Myspace is slowlyl dieing down with its usage, people still listen to the music on there and put musis up which I still think is an awesome idea but I just don’t think that it is enough to help out with the rate at which people download music. I also don’t think it will stop people from downloading music, like you said it’s just “too little, too late.”
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I have been a MySpace user for over three year now, and I often search through the music offered on MySpace. MySpace let users to search through the music section and the users are able to see new and old music artists and sample their music. I believe that if the record labels used MySpace to sell records, they would get a lot of business because it would be a convenient way to be exposed to the artist. Unfortunately, I don’t think people will ever stop illegally downloading music.
Myspace music is going to help the music industry. With some many talented artists out there, this gives everyone a chance to let there music be heard. Its also away to get the latest songs at the click of a mouse.
I think that Myspace won’t revive the music industry, it’s bringing it down more and more. I know for me that when I look at an artist that I like on Myspace, I download the song from limewire or something. I think that it is an idea to convince us to see that their helping the music industry and helping us see the error of our ways and go buy Cd’s.
Mass Comm
11:00 a.m.
I think that it will help little in the way of profit. But people are not going to pay for something they don’t have to. If I can log onto myspace whenever I want and listen to a song free of charge, why am I going to buy that song? I think that myspace music has done a better job at getting music and artist names out there to the public rather than increase the revenue for any artist.
I think that with myspace joining the music industry it will help greatly. The myspace network is so large and the average age of users is in the teens. Thats a peak time when people are very into music and the word of mouth is very crucial. Teens are always listening to music and once they find something they really like they listen to it and then tell their friends about it. Being teamed with myspace will help with this greatly especially since the feature of you being able to put music on your page is available. Great move by the music industry.
I think MySpace music was and is, to this day, a great thing. Talking to a friends dad, who is the Manager of Music Video Productions at Warner Bros., i found out that according to him, MySpace is the place where they find the new and upcoming bands. And it’s great that we can listen to all these different bands for free, so that we can decide whether to become fans without paying. Of course for artists like Beyonce, she has all the fame she already needs, but what about the rest of the unknown bands looking for a break? MySpace Music is that break for a lot of artists.
People will not pay for music if they don’t have to, I don’t believe that myspace will bring back all the money ‘lost’. It could help promote new cd’s and hits, I think it is a great idea though. The right demographic is using myspace that are interested in current music affairs. The fact that you can find and artist of any genre on myspace is simply amazing. Didn’t a song become a hit via myspace? I beleive so, my husband actually has a page dedicated to his band. They receive many posts and comments on how they are doing and what the fans like. Myself, I tend to search myspace for specific music and I find artists that I’ve never heard of before. I think the window of opportunity is great, I hope in the process the artists begin to make money.
i think this is brilliant! i am a fan of music, as well as probably everyone else, and it’s always good to promote. I use myspace a lot and i think the only way to suggest an artist is to have it right where you can find that artist. even though myspace gets a lot of crap, it’s a very smart website. Having new artists at your fingertips is amazing. the internet is the new tracking device. no longer do artist have to haul amps and stuff around they can just record in their bathroom and put it up on myspace. the idea is just phenomenol.
I think it a good idea for Myspace to get in to this joint venture, but i don’t think i will help the ailing record sells. Until they control the downloading there is always going to be a problem with sales. Also i think that the content today is not as good as it was. Artists are not trying to make quality, its more quantity. Once we get back to good music fans can support we will see a change in sale it may not be a great change but who knows.
Vincent house
I think myspace music holds great potential for the music business. No longer will bands solely be found in small underground venues, or at bars, but they will be found on the internet. You can easily tell how a band is by the number of plays they have on that paticular day, the comments they are left, and not only the amount of comments, but what people are saying. Its easy too, to click a button and start hearing their music, and see if you like it. Quite a few very popular bands have been found on myspace, Colbie Caillat for instance was found, as well as many other bands. I have my own music page, and its cool seeing the “plays per day” counter getting higher and higher, and just knowing that somebody somewhere, has been listening to my music. The digital revolution brought internet piracy, but it also brought the phenomenon of myspace which could definitely help to save the music industry. This is definitely better late than never, rather then too little too late.
I know for me personally that Myspace is a major way for me to find new songs or music that I like. With the help of Myspace in general there have been many more up and coming artist that have been able to have their music heard by a wider variety of people. Of course just because Myspace has made it easier for any person to become a recording artist doesn’t mean that the artist should even have the chance. The new Myspace Music could become a double edged sword, where they get more amateur artists than good artists and they lose the desired demography.
It seems like a good idea. If you like a band enough then you’ll go out and buy their cd’s as opposed to downloading it online. Most people would support the band that they like. This is meant to showcase artists that we’ve heard of as well as some that we never knew existed. It’s a way of marketing their music and convincing people to buy their cd’s either in store or through digital distribution such as itunes. It could also go the other way around though. People could use this and just find more songs to download from limewire. Either way, it’s not because thier hasn’t been a hit record since 1999. It’s because instead of buying that hit record legally, you could find it for free.
Myspace is the largest and most popular social-networking site on the web, not to mention the fastest growing as well. Since Myspace was founded in 2003 it has proven and outdone itself time and time again. Millions of users log on to Myspace everyday and get involved in the social-networking community. Myspace allows its users to add brand new songs from thier favorite artists to their page and allows peopole to see and find the hottest, freshest new music out there. Our music industry is failing to keep its revenue up and thinks that Myspace is the answer to bring in the bucks. Myspace is not the solution to the problem and its hardly a step in the right direction. There are currently programs and sites on the internet such as iTunes or Rhapsody that offer song downloads at “cheap” prices and knowing there is ways around paying for songs people hardly use these programs. Myspace is a great place for artists to advertise their new albums or singles, but beyond that Myspace can’t do much to enhance the music industry because there is always going to be a way around paying for music. If we want to correct and regenerate the music industry we are going to have to start by diminishing programs such as Limewire that offer fast, free downloads to any song day after day at no cost what so ever.
Today’s digital age has distanced people from their human relations. No longer does the average persons need to purchase goods or services from a counter or representative. The internet has made it also possible to completetly eliminate first impressions through social networking. The concept of a medial based music industry through the largest group of internet communication is a modern concept. Trully music promotion and evolution is going to be vastly expanded and communicated through today’s modern internet. It won’t be long before stealing music really will be a smash and grab job over the web. Myspace is a great platform to a new way of music selling i look forward to a day when my myspace account will be able to fullfill my media needs. As for now the desk job at radio shack is near extiction.
Myspace Music looks great, however, right now I’m using http://www.deezer.com/en and it’s AWESOME! A huge catalogue, a great interface, and quite good focuses on emerging artists! Great!
I think that the idea behind MySpace Music is a ver good idea in itself. With MySpace generating more and more users every day it allows the music industry a chance to potentially pull in more audience members and new audience members from all over the world. However, I do agree that major record labels have been slow to jump on the new media band wagon, so I don’t think that this integration is going to be as easy as antcipated. In my experience, MySpace has been a good place to find new music and upcoming artists that I would not have known about otherwise, which is good. But whose to say that people are going to pay for this music when they can just as easily get it for free?
I have been a MySpace user for over five year now, and I often search through the music offered on MySpace. Since MySpace gains thousands of new users each day, all of the information on the website is available to millions of people of all age groups. I think that the label companies would be smart if they used MySpace to increase their record sales. MySpace allows its users to search through the music section and the users are able to see new and old music artists and sample their music. I believe that if the record labels used MySpace to sell records, they would get a lot of business because it would be a convenient way to be exposed to the artist. Unfortunately, I don’t think people will ever stop illegally downloading music, but it would be well worth it to sell music on MySpace.
As a myspace user i think that this would be a very good idea for the record labels to at least consider. Myspace is attracting new users on a daily basis from all over the world, and of all age groups. This is a good move for the simple fact that its huge exposure for new music, new artist, and even for older music and artists. People are always willing to buy things if you make it available to them, so i think if it is an option on myspace to buy music i think that it is very possible that the market can see a lot of money generated from this venue. Nothing is going to stop people from the illegal downloading of music, but its worth a try to boost sales.
Jenal Valdez
MCCNM 101 11:00
i think this is actually a good thing. everyone knew that it would come due to the growing number off myspacers. myspace has grown into such a big market that it will most likely sell or bring millions of people into it. this would be a market booster for myspace and the media.
I believe that the amount of users and people who visit Myspace everyday is the perfect audience to reach out to with the “new revival of music”. It is “better late than never”, because there is still room for expansion in the internet and technology today and one thing that will never die is the love of music. The music industry would be stupid not to take advantage of this oppurtunity. This is the information age, in which the internet is full of all the world has to offer and one of the biggest outlets for music and it’s publicity. On the internet you can reach all age groups and provide all music thanks to the lack of censorship. Myspace Music is the best oppurtunity in my opinion to revive the ailing music industry. Myspace is used world wide, a national and international icon, addicting and used by all ages.The publicity the major music labels would recieve is endless on Myspace with people joining everyday. The music labels may be late in joining the new age of communication and entertainment but it still isn’t too late, when the internet expands they will atleast have a foot in the door.I know from experience that the music on Myspace is varied and widely used. I have found the conviences of Myspace music and used them to my fullest advantage; such as getting tickets to concerts, learning whats new with an artist, learnig of new artists, watching videos, discovering new songs, and so much more. I know that every perscriber or member of myspace has used these resources in the same attempts to learn of the newest stuff with their favorite artist or new artists. As I have stated before the music industry would be stupid not to use this. I think the music industry would definitely benefit from using myspace to expand their industry and fix the declining revenue on sales.The impact of imedia in society is such a crucial element in the expansion of enertain today. It is said “more than anything else, the new media are all about the end user,” such as YOUtube, the ipod, and MYspace. Myspace is now even expanded to mobile,being that it is now one of the new major social media. With new technology coming out everyday people have since moved to the internet for all entertainment and music needs. With the new digital convergance,no one buys CDs anymore, the new thing is Ipod or MP3s, and in order to down load music onto these they must get music off the internet, which is where the problem for major music industries comes into play. Music Piracy, the cheapest and easiest way to download music aswell as the most used way.This will also help increase sales from other outlets such as… tickets sales, interviews and new song releases, and music videos.
I think that Myspace actually hurts the music industry instead of helping it. With Myspace you can now search a certain genre of music and several different artists will come up, giving you more access to artists you wouldnt have know about before. Because you have this access and in-turn you find more artists you like, you would actually end up downloading more songs from sites such as limewire. Through Myspace looking up shows has become much easier but i still feel that the temptation to download illegally is more prevalent. Myspace is just giving more exposure to the music but not helping to increase the sales within the music industry.
-Megan Kane
Media and Society 9:30am
The media convergence between MySpace,a social website and the three record companies sounds like a fairly good attempt to revive the music industry. As far as networking and Sarnoff’s theory the value of the network is proportional to the number of users, then combining with MySpace will definately provide more visitors and listeners. Imedia is all around these days, focusing on the user and I think that the fans will be pleased to see the artists reaching out to them. The merchandise might sell better, the songs might be heard by more people, but the only factor I don’t think will happen is the purchase of the songs. With Limewire and all the other free downloading sites, I don’t think people will start purchasing any songs. I think it will work for more exposure but not more sales and money.
I think that Myspace Music will not “revive” the music industry just based on the fact that people can download it illegally and they will continue to do so. Myspace music will just allow people to find new artists, then they’ll got to limewire or a site like that and download it. It may help by just a fraction of their sales just because of honest people but how many people are actaully honest?…
-Jeremy Romero
Media and Society 930am
I have mixed emotions when dealing with this topic because, yes our generation have loop holes in a copious amount of places to to get music for free, and most of them are even starting to make lots of money by selling these albums. I believe that Myspace is going to help just a little for there are even ways that you can get the song for free off of Myspace. The positive for this situation is that having an artist music exposed to 180 million people can be very effecftive, especially if their music targets the ages 15-25 because that the prodominant users in the Myspace Network.
As far as Myspace reviving the loss money of the music companys goes, it seems to be very unrealistic. People won’t pay for music if they don’t have to, and sure they will on occasion purchase from myspace if they see something they absolutly have to have, but the sales from this wont make a huge impact on the peer to peer music sharing that is still going on. Don’t get me wrong this will increase the money for these lables but not enough to turn a profit to the loss of money due to file sharing.