FutureFive New Zealand - Consumer technology news & reviews from the future
Story image
Tue, 14th Feb 2012
FYI, this story is more than a year old

MySpace, the former social networking powerhouse that became a cautionary tale for overconfident tech investors everywhere, could be making a comeback, this time as a music sharing service similar to Spotify or Rdio.

Purchased by Justin Timberlake and Specific Media last June for US$35 million, MySpace (now apparently written as Myspace) has announced over 1 million new sign-ups in 30 days as a result of the launch of its new Myspace Music Player, an online service offering access to 42 million songs.

"The numbers tell an amazing story of strong momentum and dramatic change for Myspace,” CEO Tim Vanderhook says in the announcement.

"Myspace is building meaningful social entertainment experience around content, where consumers can share and discover the music they love.

"Consumers are getting excited about Myspace again – a testament to a great music product.

In July 2005, MySpace was acquired by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation for US$580 million; a year later it overtook Google as the most visited website in the US. However, a little company called Facebook took over the social networking mantle, causing users to leave MySpace in droves, reportedly as many as 10 million in a single month.

Did you have a MySpace account? How do you think your page would look to you now? Are you keen to try the reborn Myspace?