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White Collar Criminals

MYSPACE NOW WANTS YOU TO PAY FOR THEIR SHITTY MUSIC INTERFACE

 Friday, July 9th, 2010 at 4:30pm by

myspace logoWill MySpace Music users soon be asked to pay for the tunes they stream? Could be.

Metal Insider‘s Melinda Dolezal tell us that the floundering social network’s music division is considering a subscription model to help offset their plunging traffic numbers and their soon-to-expire ad deal with Google. This is stupid, stupid, stupid thinking!

If the price were right — say, $5.00 a month for unlimited streaming — maybe I’d pay for it. But the fact that there are so many other shortcomings of MySpace such as eye-bleeding page designs, a clunky interface and an overabundance of spam, I’d think bands and labels would instead look to other solutions that offer the same services to their visitors for free.

More and more emails we receive from bands have links to Bandcamp pages, and I have to say that I’m a big fan: the interface is super-simple without any bullshit or clutter, it’s fast, and it works well. From a band’s perspective, it’s easy to set up and it offers the ability to sell downloadable tracks in a variety of formats instantly.

So I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that a paid subscription model for MySpace would be its death knell. Of course the big four major labels — who all have a monetary stake in the MySpace Music venture — are going to do everything possible to push any such model to try to eek profits out of it. But it won’t work. People have come to expect streaming music for free. That’s just the way it is now.

-VN

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  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ben-Alexander/1092891172 Ben Alexander

    Do they actually think that’ll work? Even on the very rare occasions MySpace’s audio player works, the sound quality is total shit. Not to mention, who actually uses MySpace anymore?

    • chris

      The only reason I use Myspace is to check out band touring schedules and music. Music is the only thing keeping me on Myspace.

      • Colin

        Yea me too man.

        • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Vanderven/502827008 Mike Vanderven

          me three.

          someones just going to make a whole new myspace-like website, and a wave fo bands are gonna become successful off of it just like before lol

          shit should get interesting hahahah

          you honestly think a basement band is gonna wanna pay?

  • http://raiseyerfists.wordpress.com raiseyerfists

    Of all the dumb ideas that MySpace has come up with in the past few years, this is clearly among the dumbest. Hah!

  • GoingDeaf?

    I hope they do it. I’m completely ready for Myspace to no longer be the standard. Let the mass exodus begin!

    Bandcamp would be an ideal replacement if they just offered a few more features to make it a full profile (pictures, blog, tour dates). Unfortunately, Bandcamp is also going to have to eventually monetize the operation or they won’t survive. Taking a small percentage of track sales (but less than itunes) would be their best bet.

  • Beavis

    now where am I gonna get all my free mixtapes??!?

  • Cryzthormagnusian

    bandcamp.com

    I have found more with this site in the short time I have been exposed to it than I ever have in all of the time Myspace has been around, simply because I it so much more workable than Myspace.

    • Coop

      Bandcamp is far better, but its not known by anybody. The appeal of a myspace is that valot of people use it anyway, and they can add you and look at your music easily. If you tell them “check out our myspace” it”s easier to. If you say “check out our bandcamp” people don”t know what the hell you’re talking about. I wonder what this subscription bullshit means for unsigned bands…

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Tynan-Evans/733097285 Tynan Evans

      yeah, bandcamp is amazing. i haven’t seen too many metal artists on there though.

  • builtforsin

    I hope they dp it. Im ready for the death of mysapace.

    • Clement

      Yeah, they’d probably die either way if they’re going to lose their advertising contract but now no one will expect us to use an out-of-date social networking site to stream music.

  • http://misterbooze.blogspot.com Mister Booze

    Agreed. This is idiotic. I don’t even like to click on myspace to hear free mp3s from bands. Why would I ever pay for it? You can’t even download it!

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Brian-Edwards/100000527928466 Brian Edwards

      I deleted my myspace once they disabled bands the ability to allow free downloads.

  • Vlygar

    Just checked out Bandcamp. It still needs a few things added like a search feature, tour dates, etc. but it’s a welcome change from myspace.

  • Franco

    I can guarantee if they make us pay to stream music, simply no one will ever use myspace again. there are other ways to hear music.

  • d.o.g.o.b.g.y.n.

    So now we get to pay to listen to tracks in shitty low-quality format? First day subscriber right here!

  • Peteara

    Are you some damned moron?

  • Heywood

    Charge to offset decreasing traffic. Ever heard of a negative feedback loop?

  • http://www.jaydinitto.com Jay

    “Of course the big four major labels … are going to do everything possible to push any such model to try to eek profits out of it.”

    They already get profits from advertising. If they start charging they’ll get little subscribers and less traffic. Less profit than they are getting now.

    I’m calling a tentative BS on this.

  • DemonicLemming

    Fuck that. Don’t most people just youtube bands when they want to hear music any more? Myspace fucking sucks and it has since it started.

    • Superhans

      well said!

    • stu1

      Youtube is surpassing, if it hasn’t already, Myspace as a music player.

  • CtrlZ

    The only thing I like about myspace is that I find other similar bands through a bands friend list. Other than that, ‘s pure shit.

    • chris

      Agreed! I have found numerous bands that way.

    • http://www.myspace.com/deusdarah Von Nóier

      Yeah and this is something that worths something to me. I found many bands I apreciate just messing around. But that is not enough to make me pay a fee just to keep the third rate interface (that only gets better with a LOT of tweaks) and the bad sounding, 5-minute-to-load player.

  • http://www.myspace.com/palehorseofhell lord assenfroth

    well if we kill myspace all we will have left is twitter and facebook to kill. lets destroy the internet!

  • http://www.myspace.com/severed Tonberry

    Way before myspace, before friendster even, there was this site call findapix. It was a very similar, but very early social networking site that was getting very popular for a time. Then they decided to start charging. What’s that, you don’t remember findapix? Exactly.

  • Dysenteric

    The only thing MySpace was good for was free promotion of music. Forcing a paid subscription would finish it the fuck off. I don’t think Facebook will be around much longer, it will just update into the sunset.

    Bandcamp and Spotify are the places to go. If Bandcamp had everything MySpace accommodates (tour dates, similar artists, links to merch stores etc.) without the HTML trickery and prolix CSS statements that very few people give a crap about, it would be very good. Youtube is quite good for music as well, even with the new video adverts.

    • stu1

      Facebook’s not going anywhere. And it offers music players, tour dates, merch options, etc.

      • Vlygar

        5 years from now, Facebook will be where Myspace currently is.

        • Natsquatch

          I dunno. Everybody’s parents, uncles, and grandparents weren’t on Myspace like they are on Facebook. It’s more geared towards actually getting in touch with family and past friends rather than chasing jailbait, unlike Myspace, which could lend some longevity. Plus, Facebook doesn’t allow for trashy profile customization and other excessive junk. I’m not saying it will be around forever, but it probably will be longer than its predecessor.

          However, I truthfully don’t know shit and anything could happen.

          • stu1

            Exactly, spot on.

        • stu1

          Yeah, 5 years from now, sure. I’ll buy that. Friendster’s “hey day” wasn’t even 5 years. Myspace was probably what, around 5 years?? Facebook is on 3ish? Not existence, but total relevance? I’m talking about “immediate future.” Facebook is here for the “long haul,” internet/computer time speaking.

        • stu1

          Shit dude, metal world has barely even caught on to facebook. Facebook started as a college and college alum thing, and has sort of worked its way down the “intellectual food chain,” unlike myspace. Metal and hiphop are way behind on facebook. And don’t even START on twitter.

        • http://www.myspace.com/severed Tonberry

          If Facebook hadn’t started to do a more efficient, more engaging version of what Myspace was doing, Myspace would still be going strong. Consider that Facebook was created only a few months after Myspace, and gradually caught up over the course of several years while they tweaked the ways that people can interact on the network. Something will eventually come along to usurp Facebook, but I think that even 5 years is a bit of a conservative estimate, considering that there’s nothing really even seriously trying to do so at the moment. I am curious to see what tumblr will look like 5 years from now, though.

          • stu1

            Well the genius of facebook and now tumblr and twitter, etc is how they can all interact and intertwine. That’s something Myspace certainly didn’t/couldn’t do, until recently.

  • Patton

    MySpace still exists ?!?

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Anthony-Showalter/100000592087843 Anthony Showalter

    There’s ssoooooooooo much free metal on myspace from Iron Maiden to Immolation and Judas Priest to Judas Iscariot. Even If the sound quality is reduced I would be bummed If it wasn’t available for free anymore.

  • Alex

    I sure as shit won’t pay to use myspace to listen to music. The only reason I even go there is to sample bands I hear about or to check on tour dates and shit. Not paying for that.

  • Jolt

    Good riddance. MySpace Music is just for people who haven’t discovered Grooveshark.

    • http://www.facebook.com/akarshan.hojo axemanhojo

      OMG…….thanks dude……this site rules…

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jonathan-Jaeger/660247073 Jonathan Jaeger

    This is even worse than Ning charging users! Facebook is going to drop even more traffic and would have to cut staff DRAMATICALLY to make this work for their budget. Not to mention their advertising deal with Google is not going to be as high as it was previously.

  • http://pottedstore.com patrick

    The geriatric folks at News Corp/Fox are woefully out of touch with the media consuming public.

    • stu1

      Are you surprised? Not even meaning that in a political “diss Fox” way. There’s so many issues with a parent company like Fox being involved with something like Myspace there isn’t enough room to type it. It was totally reactionary; “wait, this is new and important??? what’s it do??? Shit, I don’t care!! Box it and wrap it!!”

  • Punkass

    Even for free I avoid myspace like the plague

  • Romaould the Loquacious

    Let myspace burn! Mwahahahaha!

  • Scourge441

    Most bands right now rely on Myspace for a big chunk of their promotion. Even if they don’t have their profile anymore, when people want to check out a band’s music before they buy/download it, they usually find their Myspace profile.

    If they go to a subscription model, they’re dead. And a whole lot of musicians lose that outlet to promote themselves. Right now, there isn’t really a replacement. Facebook requires that you have a profile to view stuff. Bandcamp needs to add more things. No one cares about PureVolume anymore.

    Now, it is possible to embed other music players into your Myspace page. Bandcamp allows this, for example. However, if Myspace goes to a subscription model, they’ll likely block other players from being embedded into pages.

    I think Myspace needs to pull out of the social networking competition and focus on their music pages. It’s the only thing they’ve got going for them.

    • stu1

      So start a facebook profile; it’s not hard. It’s also not hard time find/make a player you can drop on another page. No one cares about pure volume anymore? Maybe, but it suits the need you’re talking about so don’t act like it’s not a replacement because “no one cares.”

    • KMFCM

      soundclounds can be embedded pretty much anywhere

  • KMFCM

    myspace is dead

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Lance-Zeran/100000142665110 Lance Zeran

    I never used Myspace anyway.

    I love Bandcamp, but like a lot of others have already said, it’s missing some features. I’d like a bit more customization for pages, but nothing like Myspace. There’s more stuff that i’ve thought of but I can’t think of them now.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ilija-Stajic/1150940770 Ilija Stajic

    i go on grooveshark/bandcamp.

    Myspace is dead, twitter next!

  • brandonmetal

    finally, we can all forget about myspace. shitty ads, shitty graphics/layouts, and shitty music player!

  • Jizzmaster3000

    Must be the Murdoch influence. Must say I’ve been looking forward to the downfall of Myspazzle for some time.

  • Chris

    Facebook just needs to be more band friendly and it will take over :) garuntee’d i’m in a band now and we dont even have a myspace.

    its pointless nobody uses it.

  • Spike

    I´m also in a band and we don´t use our myspace page anymore. We formed just as myspace was starting to seriously become a wasteland, like a year ago, so we made one but it never took off. We just use facebook, its okay for the level we are at now but we have an album almost ready for release and will be starting to tour so its not as convienient to go out and add people to your page, its very reliant on word of mouth and getting people to get people to add your band which is harder than the old myspace way.

    Its kind of good in a way if myspace dies because it will filter out the shit bands that have no desire to tour or work on promoting themselves outside the internet, which saturate the “market” of myspace and make it harder to find the good bands, which is good for everybody. It allows good bands to prosper and music fans to be exposed to only good, hardworking bands that put themselves out there.

    anyway, myspace sucks and always has sucked. it was just semi-convienient as a home for bands which wasn´t even useful. if you werent crafty with photoshop and shitty CSS you had to pay a pro to customize your page in even the most basic of ways.

  • Doc

    OK, so we have new personnel and a name change. For years it was “the thing to do”, so we started a new MySpace page.

    As of now (after putting up the page on May 17), we have only 28 “friends” and 247 outstanding requests.

    Yeah, charging will bring ‘em back. LOL Good riddance.