Love it or hate it, MySpace has always been a haven for musicians and fans. Plus, while Facebook has eclipsed it in popularity, MySpace is still one of the most heavily-trafficked websites in the world. These facts are perhaps what led to the creation of MySpace Music, essentially just another digital distributor, eight months ago.
As it turns out, the major label partners in the MySpace Music venture are not so happy with its performance, evidently pretty poor in terms of revenue but pretty good in terms of traffic. At a recent board meeting, a cnet source described the discussions as “tense”, with MySpace Music CEO Courtney Holt ultimately admitting the service needs work.
Nate Lanxon of Crave accurately summed up the problems with the venture:
“That kids on MySpace aren’t spending money on downloads shouldn’t surprise anyone. The social network is not the vehicle for sales that record executives believe it should be — a huge user base doesn’t equal a huge customer base.”
His proposed solution to help improve revenue was straightforward enough:
“Fans don’t just want what everyone else can get — they want mountains of special stuff, and stuff they can’t get elsewhere. For MySpace Music to really shine, this is what it needs to be pushing, and it’ll need bands themselves to be advertising it — they’re the best mouths for promotions to be heard from.”
On a side note, this situation provides concrete proof to an argument I’ve put forth against people that suggest artists should give away lots of music to attract fans; just because you have a lot of fans doesn’t mean you’ll have a lot of sales. And yes, I know that you need fans to generate sales, but if you are getting fans (that are most likely not going to result in ‘conversions’) at the expense of sales then that’s just not good.
Labels dissatisfied with MySpace Music performance [cnet]
Tags: Digital Distribution, MySpace
