Is The MySpace Record Label Doomed To Fail? Column by Jordan A. Baker
Last week it was widely publicized that "the great music democratizer," MySpace had entered into a joint music venture with Universal Music Group's Interscope Records. Included with this annoucement was the signing of HOLLYWOOD UNDEAD to the label, and the mentioning of the label's debut release, a seventeen song compilation featuring hits and unreleased songs from a roster including AFI, DASHBOARD CONFESSIONAL, AGAINST ME, FALL OUT BOY, ALL-AMERICAN REJECTS, JUPITER SUNRISE, SAY ANYTHING, TILA TEQUILA (yikes!) and others. Interpunk has this release on sale already, listed with an $11.00 price tag.
Here's where I question the sense of the whole thing. It's a comparison of new-school technology and digital distribution versus the old-school workings of the music industry. MySpace may have 35 kajillion page views, and a few million people logging on at any given time, but will all those eyeballs translate into CD purchasers? Note the emphasis on purchasers. MySpace's "target demographic," (which not so coincidentally, is Pastepunk's demographic) as we all know, doesn't seem to spend money on CDs like they used to... and I don't need to explain why that is. Full-priced compilations, with the exception of the NOW Series, have as much of a market impact as a new LIMP BIZKIT album. We all know that the unreleased material from the MySpace compilation will be available on P2P before the disc even hits stores, if it isn't already out there. $11.00?!?! Are they out of their minds?
MySpace, as a record label, also presents some interesting branding issues. This isn't the situation of a green hardcore label trying to get its feet wet with a compilation of up-and-coming, mostly local acts. In that situation, the hardcore label is trying to build some kind of "in," and one that usually is limited to a specific, close-knit scene. What a label like Bridge 9, Indecision or Deathwish has, MySpace will likely never achieve. Think of the driving force behind MySpace right now, at least in the independent music community. Essentially, it's well-targeted, consensual spam. We become "friends" with bands, and then they send us 30 emails a day about how they have new merch and how last night's show in City X was "seriously awesome." While I do think that this puts the artist and the fan closer than ever before (except in the situations where bands hire full-time MySpace page managers), I hesitate to support the argument that this kind of electronic relationship results in greater CD sales, at least in an appreciable amount that make the mainstream music industry take notice. Rather - like so many things we have come to expect from the major labels, this whole scenario screams of Interscope trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.
MySpace may be a great way to kill time, but in the end, it's just another piece of the internet that's being exploited by users to further their own cash flow, and that's hardly the kind of brand identity that a record label should be based around.
