According to a Latino on-line radio (www.Cooperativa.cl) MySpace launched
a new free music service this Thursday. This service will allow users to
listen to the music, but not to download the music. MySpace users will
be able to create their own lists up to a hundred songs and place them in
their profile.
What does this mean?
The power of the masses and distribution: MySpace has users all over the
world; this service can increase or decrease the popularity of certain
songs or music albums.
Competition: In the effort of MySpace to provide better services for its
users, MySpace is also challenging Facebook. Would Facebook come up with
something similar soon in order to be competitive?
Technology Reflection: This service will not be available everywhere, there will be
countries like Chile in which this service will not be available for its
users to use (however, they will be able to listen to the music by enter
to other users’ profiles). This shows that technology and services still
have its limits…
Visit MySpace Music:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=music
Another exciting feature is, MySpace provides totally DRM-free downloads through Amazon. Each title costs 79 cents. Songs are cheaper and give more freedom for users than iTunes’.
MySpace has the potential to be a heavy shaker-mover in the digital music industry if it keeps innovating like this:
1. Younger, mobile audience are familiar with MySpace’s brand and trust it as an entity that serves as a direct connection between the artist/bands and their fans.
2. if MySpace develops a mobile applet (gPhone and iPhone enabled), this could be a killer music widget (beating out Pandora, LastFM, AOLradio, etc).
3. Could kill the subscription-based music services (Rhapsody, Napster, etc). Why pay when you can listen as much as you want for free?
This leads to:
How would this affect illegal downloading of music? If users can log into their accounts, listen to streams of their favorite songs of the moment, why would downloading be necessary? Even more so, if MySpace develops an applet that lets users stream music from their mobile devices?
Food for thought.
LA Times reports on the MySpace user experience for its music player — it’s not pretty.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/extendedplay/2008/09/myspaces.html
Agree to Cindy,
People may listen all music from streaming music if mobile applet and the Internet grow in the future, then downloading will be unnecessary.
There is a streaming music service in Taiwan, people pay monthly for listening to any music that they want. Record company may make profit from this business model.
Besides, MySpace music player is too bring for their target users. It need customization and more fun.
How does this compare with Pandora?
Well Adriana, judging from Slate’s review of the Myspace business, probably not as good as Pandora (in terms of user experience):
Apparently, Myspace’s music service is bogged by inept user interface design, legalities, and the necessity that one must be a Myspace user in order to take advantage of the service.
Link here:
http://www.slate.com/id/2201431