Because we actually have a day job, we won’t be covering live the conference call that MySpace is holding now… for that check out some other sources: Paid Content, Alley Insider.
However, at first glance, I will say four things:
1- Paying for content: RIP
The premise - or expectation - that consumers would pay for any form of media just got one more nail in the coffin.
Text content? Nyet. Video? Nope. Music… some would argue that Apple’s iTunes shows that consumer would pay… but despite Apple’s success, I am not convinced that the masses online want to pay… and today’s decision by MySpace is a testament to that. It’s the world’s biggest social networking site, a major music oriented hub, and yet, it goes against the grain of what Apple was doing at iTunes… and I think that is the point: to reduce Steve Jobs’ power.
2- Dawn of a New Era: News Corp.’s FIM and MySpace Rise a Few Notches
News Corp. is giving up equity to the other media companies, but judging by the way this all looks (printed statements by other chiefs, MySpace running the show), it’s hard to argue that News Corp. just strengthened its hand here.
I’ve been saying that due to Disney’s considerable online revenue stream (well over $1B per annum), it was hard to argue that they were not the king of new media… but News Corp. has been coming on very strong, and this puts down an option for Rupert Murdoch’s empire to become the king of new media. In many ways, with MySpace being the world’s biggest site by pageviews, they already were… but this pushes them over the top relative TWX, Disney, Viacom, CBS, etc…
I’ve long argued that MySpace’s slant towards entertainment will shelter it from any advances from Facebook (and over time these two will diverge in the role they fill online), but this is considerable. I do expect Mark Zuckerberg and company to hatch plans for music, too… but planning for something and executing it not the same thing.
3 - Media vs. Tech: Line in the Sand
In this case, media companies like Warner Music, Sony, BMG, Universal Music Group (where’s EMI?) are all stating: we might compete amongst media companies but the foe are technology firms who can and will rape our businesses with no upside or value proposition.
Incidentally, MySpace might get criticized for occasionally being error prone etc. (who wouldn’t be after such massive growth), but the fact is that its tech platform made the other media companies more willing / less reluctant to fight News Corp. and instead made them align with it and make it the de facto platform.
4 - Execution Makes or Break Big Hairy Audacious Goals
In theory, this seems like the dawn of something new… but ultimately, we still need to see MySpace et al. execute this, and with so many different personalities and egos in one room (at least spiritually/figuratively), it remains to be seen if all parties pull this off.
[Disclaimer: WatchMojo.com is a content provider to MySpace TV; I worked for News Corp. from Sept. to Dec. 2005]
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