Live data from Hacker News

MySpace, R.I.P.

gigaom.com

11–20 of 36 posts

Re: MySpace, R.I.P.

#11
MySpace Music is hopeless: the interface, the way content is presented, the way search results are inaccurate and incomplete. The search field isn't even selected by default.

If I were Murdoch I would be focusing on an awesome API for anyone to access any and all of News Corp's material. A content warehouse, by which large users can be charged. Uncooperating with Google is one thing, but it should be balanced with this one.

Otherwise, News could run a public talent search for hackers, like The Apprentice or Rockstar INXS, to find CEOs.

Re: MySpace, R.I.P.

#12
post #2

It's hard for me to understand why people still use MySpace. I've never had an account there, but from all the user profile pages (not sure if that's what they're called) I've visited, none have been easy on the eye. Facebook seems to be the much better option to me. The Facebook fan pages can be used by most bands to build their brand and market themselves (I've only ever seen Bands using MySpace - nobody I know use…

I use it only to keep track of the music artists I like. It actually works really well.

Re: MySpace, R.I.P.

#13
post #6

I think Myspace still has the band/musician space, largely because what Myspace allows and Facebook doesn't (restyling the page, embedded music player) are pretty necessary to artists asserting their brand identity. Which is really the main reason for them to have a presence.

Take a look at Bandcamp, it's the last nail in MySpace's coffin. Main page, http://www.bandcamp.com/ Random couple of artist pages for an indication of the customization available, never mind the billing and music serving back end. http://redfang.bandcamp.com/ http://danielaspector.bandcamp.com/

The problem I see with Bandcamp is that there's no discovery portion of it. If you already know of an artist, it's great, but you can't stumble across some new artist like you can on MySpace.

Re: MySpace, R.I.P.

#14
post #4

The web doesn’t hold much attraction for Rupert Murdoch who is now enamored with e-readers and tablets. Tablets, according to those in the know, are being viewed as saviors for News Corp.’s core business: news and information. He thinks that since devices are not that useful without his content; he eventually wins because he will get people to win. “Content is not just king, it is the emperor of all things electronic…

c) e-Readers/Tablets don't make the barrier to entry much higher. (You can publish stuff on the Kindle for free, for instance: https://dtp.amazon.com/mn/signin). Hence it's hard to see how he can compete in the tablet/e-Reader space any better than he could compete online.

-- e-readers and Tablets may not make the barrier to entry tougher. But it might get them more subscriptions if apple implements subscription through itunes.

Re: MySpace, R.I.P.

#15
post #2

It's hard for me to understand why people still use MySpace. I've never had an account there, but from all the user profile pages (not sure if that's what they're called) I've visited, none have been easy on the eye. Facebook seems to be the much better option to me. The Facebook fan pages can be used by most bands to build their brand and market themselves (I've only ever seen Bands using MySpace - nobody I know use…

Myspace is good as a home page for musicians, due to the high availability of bandwidth for sample tracks. Virtually every musical artist who is anything at all, has a home page there.

Facebook is a poor replacement as you must be logged in to be able to see a Facebook page.

I don't like being spied on, so I don't have a Facebook account, and never will.

As a pure social networking site for ordinary people, MySpace's days are long over.

Re: MySpace, R.I.P.

#16
post #4

The web doesn’t hold much attraction for Rupert Murdoch who is now enamored with e-readers and tablets. Tablets, according to those in the know, are being viewed as saviors for News Corp.’s core business: news and information. He thinks that since devices are not that useful without his content; he eventually wins because he will get people to win. “Content is not just king, it is the emperor of all things electronic…

"This means a much higher level of competition, and competition destroys margins." This has wider implications on the ability to profit over the long run in a capitalist society. In open markets margins should tend to zero. It seems the only way to profit would be to have some edge in terms protected market (monopoly) or slight protected technical advantage for a short period. But once the protected advantages are go…

I am not sure that "margins tending to zero" applies at all to any market where the marginal cost of producing is non-zero.

Re: MySpace, R.I.P.

#17
post #4

The web doesn’t hold much attraction for Rupert Murdoch who is now enamored with e-readers and tablets. Tablets, according to those in the know, are being viewed as saviors for News Corp.’s core business: news and information. He thinks that since devices are not that useful without his content; he eventually wins because he will get people to win. “Content is not just king, it is the emperor of all things electronic…

"This means a much higher level of competition, and competition destroys margins." This has wider implications on the ability to profit over the long run in a capitalist society. In open markets margins should tend to zero. It seems the only way to profit would be to have some edge in terms protected market (monopoly) or slight protected technical advantage for a short period. But once the protected advantages are go…

Surely you need there to be no restriction on resources as well as an free market in order for the profits to tend to zero. A free market doesn't help if one person/group owns all the resources (though I gather Adam Smith's free market definition excluded monopolies this doesn't appear to be within the modern definition).

Re: MySpace, R.I.P.

#18
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"This means a much higher level of competition, and competition destroys margins." This has wider implications on the ability to profit over the long run in a capitalist society. In open markets margins should tend to zero. It seems the only way to profit would be to have some edge in terms protected market (monopoly) or slight protected technical advantage for a short period. But once the protected advantages are go…

I am not sure that "margins tending to zero" applies at all to any market where the marginal cost of producing is non-zero.

Jinx!

Re: MySpace, R.I.P.

#19
post #6

I think Myspace still has the band/musician space, largely because what Myspace allows and Facebook doesn't (restyling the page, embedded music player) are pretty necessary to artists asserting their brand identity. Which is really the main reason for them to have a presence.

Take a look at Bandcamp, it's the last nail in MySpace's coffin. Main page, http://www.bandcamp.com/ Random couple of artist pages for an indication of the customization available, never mind the billing and music serving back end. http://redfang.bandcamp.com/ http://danielaspector.bandcamp.com/

"Bandcamp"?

Are they targeting the nerd market with that name?

Re: MySpace, R.I.P.

#20
post #15
post #2

It's hard for me to understand why people still use MySpace. I've never had an account there, but from all the user profile pages (not sure if that's what they're called) I've visited, none have been easy on the eye. Facebook seems to be the much better option to me. The Facebook fan pages can be used by most bands to build their brand and market themselves (I've only ever seen Bands using MySpace - nobody I know use…

Myspace is good as a home page for musicians, due to the high availability of bandwidth for sample tracks. Virtually every musical artist who is anything at all, has a home page there. Facebook is a poor replacement as you must be logged in to be able to see a Facebook page . I don't like being spied on, so I don't have a Facebook account, and never will. As a pure social networking site for ordinary people, MySpace'…

You don't need to be logged in to see a fan page.
Post reply on HN