Comments for MySpace Music Store: Where's the Long Tail?

MySpace Music Store: Where's the Long Tail?

2008-04-04T03:11:54Z

On the same day that Apple announced that iTunes had surpassed Wal-Mart as the number one music retailer in the United States, MySpace announced that it had joined with three of four major labels (EMI isn't on board yet) to launch their own iTunes killer. As they did previously for Amazon, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and Sony BMG have agreed to let MySpace sell music DRM-free. But the big question is: Why just the majors?

]]> "MySpace is reaching into its roots with the music service," wrote the Dow Jones news service. "MySpace became popular as a way for users to connect with their favorite bands and add songs to their profile pages. Listening to music remains one of the most popular activities on the site, which has since branched into online video and other media efforts."

It's true that MySpace owes much of its success to its popularity with musicians, and the service could certainly be a game changer. Search for almost any major musical act in Google and you're almost certain to find three things on the first page of results: the artist's official page, the artist's wikipedia page, and the artist's MySpace page. With it's position as the current generation's MTV, the potential for MySpace to serve as a serious hub for music sales is believable. And as we noted in February, chief rival Facebook has a long way to go to catch up with MySpace in the area of music.

But MySpace doesn't just cater to the major acts -- much of the appeal of the social network is in the ability to connect directly with local, long tail acts. That's where its true roots lie. As Matt Rosoff writes on CNET's Crossfade blog, "major label acts are a small part of the MySpace experience... MySpace is the ultimate long tail site for musicians, where bar bands and small-town heroes can appear in the same context as the biggest bands in the world."

What we're looking for next from MySpace is to extend the functionality of their music store to every musical act using the site. That would certainly be a game changer and would make it easier for small acts to build awareness and cultivate their "true fans." In essence, it would make it simple for any small band to put out their work on the web's label: MySpace.

Comment from william on 2008-04-04

2008-04-04T09:03:09Z

It will never happen. If you are an independent act,owning your music and your fans, and you begin to gain traction and you are keeping most of the profits for your work; why would you want to sign with a major label that will want to own the rights to your content and your distribution ?

Why would a major label want you to do this. They want to be the only owner and distribution channel. Myspace is now no better than the majors that have fought for years to keep their monopoly control over pricing and distribution.

How hard would it be for Myspace to turn on a feature to allow any artist to sell and distribute their content ? Thats not rocket science. They will not do this because the majors will want all artist that sell on this platform to be owned by the lables.

The great thing about their plan is that it will fail. Steve Jobs through brilliant design and strategy has broken the labels control over price and distribution and there is no going back. Myspace cant design a simple Social Network; I m certain that they will not be able to design anything close to an iTunes or an iPod experience.......lol....I m going to plug my iPod in and go to Myspace to buy the music....ha ha ha ....and knowing that Myspace is making hundreds of millions of dollars on the backs of artist and member content creators without giving a dime back.....not a chance in hell.....

Comment from Steven Finch on 2008-04-04

2008-04-04T10:59:22Z

Im sure that Myspace will eventually cater for the long tail. However by this time what is the point for independent artists to sign up. If the majors own the company itself then they have more control, thus a percentage of all independent sales... typical!!

I think Myspace will be very popular, but for the fact that the Majors own shares, i dont think it will ever get close to iTunes.

Comment from Marcello on 2008-04-04

2008-04-04T14:13:02Z

If anyone is interested in how this story is being reported in the business journals, here's a couple of links:

Billboard magazine

Advertising Age
(You might need to sign up for a free account to see the AdAge article).

There seems to be a significant discrepancy between how the tech world and the business world is viewing the digital music "revolution". The techies envision social networks and long tails that are attached to some sort of decentralized network of self-producing and self-financing musical units.

On the other hand, the major labels and MySpace envision... profit!

Comment from Adam Ostrow on 2008-04-04

2008-04-04T14:32:02Z

Hey Josh - This was a question I asked Amit Kapur yesterday. FWIW, he indicated that MySpace would offer "the same business models" to unsigned acts as well.

Comment from Josh Catone on 2008-04-04

2008-04-04T15:51:54Z

@Adam: Thanks for the comment. I think that would be a smart move for MySpace -- music is still their biggest area of dominance over Facebook, imho.

Comment from W3G on 2008-04-05

2008-04-05T07:02:53Z

Well I guess it would be a good move for MySpace plus it will provide good opportunity for new artists as well.
-W3G

Comment from Daniel Dougherty on 2008-04-08

2008-04-08T16:08:25Z

This environment does exist a bit further down the tail on SoundClick.com. SoundClick has been around for over 10 years and allows artists to license and sell their original music in a proprietary store. While it does not have the reach of MySpace, SoundClick is a music social media community with 3.3 million members and is a serious place for artists and fans to discover new music in all genres.

Comment from David on 2008-04-14

2008-04-14T14:48:44Z

If you are an independent artist or an independent label do NOT sign up to this service.

The artists cut is a terrible deal.

I understand the flat rate taken by MySpace is $0.45apx even if you are sticking with the $0.99 per track price (even though this service is supposed to encourage variable pricing there isnt a sliding scale when it comes to MySpaces charges) you will be left with $0.54 per track thats $0.10 less than itunes gives you!

iTunes is the number 1 music store and even though you may be able to debate whether its the best or not everybody is surely agreed that it has a far better user experience than using MySpace.