Myspace TV Coming to a Tablet Near You?

Justin Timberlake-endorsed Myspace is back on the scene, and it just may have beaten Apple and Google to a big consumer good: TV on the Web. Specific Media, Myspace’s current owner, issued a public statement concerning company plans to make the service available by early this year. Their idea is to offer network and cable content on any device with a screen and an Internet connection. The big announcement was made at the Consumer Electronics Show going on right now in Las Vegas, Nevada. In a subsequently published press release, company scribes say that the first channels to be offered by Myspace’s new service will tap deep into Myspace’s immense music video library.

Despite the ambitious date for service launch, Specific Media CEO Tim Vanderhook was open about the fact that deals with television content providers were still being sorted out. Details about what fees consumers will be expected to pony up for the service are still hard to come by. Sticking to its social network roots, Myspace TV will be outfitted with features permitting easeful shared “virtual viewing,” meaning you’ll be able to watch TV with friends in faraway places at the same time, and talk about it online as if you all were sitting next to each other on a TV couch of yore.

MySpace Sold for $35 Million, but Still Cool Enough for Justin Timberlake

Back in 2005, News Corporation paid $580 million to acquire MySpace. At the time, the pioneering social media site received, in the United States alone, 20 million unique visitors monthly. Today, what’s left of the network was just sold for a not-so-cool $35 million. Specific Media, an online advertising company from Irvine, CA, is the buyer.

Another harsh figure, inspiring more than a few sly smiles (here’s looking at you, Tom Freston) is the difference from a peak revenue of $605 million to a modest $183 million. It’s been reported that since the 2005 purchase, the News Corporation division that was home to MySpace only managed to make a profit once. Massive layoffs were carried out yesterday inside the company — about 200 people lost their jobs.

But the deal has a Hollywood twist. Justin Timberlake, who played Facebook’s Sean Parker in David Fincher’s film “The Social Network,” has taken a real-life 5-percent stake in Specific Media, along with an office at MySpace and a six-count staff. He’ll be working as a kind of creative director focused on “reinvigorating” the site.

For now, other MySpace workers are staying busy by attempting to “quickly publish a crowdsourced book” about themselves. It’s being written on Google Docs while, along the once-higher rungs, MySpace ex-vice presidents are using Twitter give others tidings of their last days at the company. Yes, the medium is a message unto itself.

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/29/news-corp-sells-myspace-to-specific-media-for-35-million/?ref=technology

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/06/bebo-founder-michael-birch-on-myspace-sale-to-specific-media-justin-timberlake.html

http://allthingsd.com/20110629/employees-already-crowdsourcing-a-myspace-history/

MySpace launches new music products for artists and fans

MySpace has announced the next phase of the company’s music offering with new products and tools available to artists and fans. The social networking site has unveiled MySpace Music Video, MySpace Artist Dashboard and the ability for users to purchase music on iTunes.

MySpace Music Video offers users a large collection of online music videos, including fully-licensed video content from both major and independent label partners. Users can browse videos based on what their friends are watching or search alphabetically.

In addition to MySpace Music Video, the social networking site also unveiled the MySpace Artist Dashboard in beta. This offers artists unlimited access to charts, graphs and snapshots of MySpace Music data, including fan geography, song plays, profile views, friend count and profile visitors.

“Whether you’re a small town garage band, an emerging indie, or a well-established act, our ultimate goal is to provide the right mix of tools and real-time data to help you gain a deep understanding of who your fans are and how best to reach them,” said Courtney Holt, president of MySpace Music. “We’re committed to providing the most comprehensive ecosystem of services for artists in an effort to deepen their connection with the most important influencers – their fans.”

Finally, MySpace users can now purchase and download music on iTunes in addition to Amazon MP3 and MP3 ringtones via Jamster.