Music Ally

MySpace Music has begun testing 30-second audio ads, timed to appear after users listen to the first song on a playlist. It’s working with online audio ad company TargetSpot to sell the spots, although it’s clearly early days.

“We’re testing some new ad products and the response from our users has been positive,” says a spokesperson. “As always, we are interested in hearing feedback from our users and advertising community as we run these tests”.

Of course, rival ad-supported music firms like Spotify and we7 have been running audio ads for some time now, so it’s not a new idea. Maybe Spotify should buy some space on MySpace Music and introduce Roberta to the US for its launch… Okay, maybe not.

New figures from comScore show that music videos portal Vevo has made an impressive start. In December, it attracted 35.4 million unique visitors, vaulting it ahead of MySpace Music’s 33.1 million. And Vevo didn’t launch until the eighth of the month.

However, TechCrunch digs into the figures and claims that 92% of Vevo’s traffic came from the Vevo channel on YouTube, showing the distribution muscle of Google’s video site for the new music venture. “The interest and enthusiasm our users have shown has been both gratifying and inspiring,” says CEO Rio Caraeff.

“We are also proud to deliver such strong traffic results straight out of the gate to our content and marketing partners, which solidify their early belief in the Vevo vision.”

Last night’s press release for the MySpace Music UK launch mentioned that users would be able to buy DRM-free MP3 tracks from iTunes. Although we did twig that iTunes doesn’t sell MP3 files, we didn’t make much of it. Perhaps we should, but 7digital CEO Ben Drury has stepped in to highlight the point.

“The link to download tracks via iTunes does not offer consumers the best deal for purchasing digital music,” he says.

“Despite the claims in the press release, music purchased through iTunes is in the AAC format and not MP3. This means purchased downloads are not compatible with all music devices and are of a lower quality than the 320k MP3s we sell at 7digital.com. It is unfortunate that they are not allowing their customers to choose MP3.”

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MySpace Music goes live in the UK today, as we’ve already written. So what does Spotify make of its new competitor. With the latter yet to launch in the US, the UK has become the first head-to-head battle between the two streaming music services.

“We wish MySpace Music the very best of luck,” Spotify’s communications manager Jim Butcher tells Music Ally. “It’s a great brand and we look forward to growing the market together. We all share the same goal – to get music to the masses by proving fans with access to their favourite tunes that’s simpler, faster and ultimately better than piracy.”

Ach, “We’re planning every dirty trick in the book, up to and including kidnapping their sales team and hacking their servers to only stream Renee and Renata” would have been better. It’s true that the more high-profile legal streaming services there are, the stronger the case is against piracy. But don’t think Spotify and MySpace Music will be anything other than fierce rivals for advertising budgets here in the UK – and next year in the US too.

What do the Pope and Katie Price have in common? Well, they’ve both got their knockers. But they’ve also both contributed playlists for the launch of MySpace Music in the UK. It goes live today (Thursday 3rd December), with streaming music from major and indie labels, a deal with PRS for Music, and links to buy songs from iTunes.

Like the US version, the site will be free to users, offering unlimited streams and playlists on the site itself, or on a “personal online music player” while surfing other sites. The likes of 50 Cent, Florence & The Machine, Alicia Keys, Chipmunk, Lostprophets and Nelly Furtado are being featured in a series of interactive films to promote the launch – and don’t worry, MySpace Music has also conformed to the iron rule of current UK music-related branding that Pixie Lott has to be involved.

As in the US, MySpace Music UK will include the MySpace Artist Dashboard, providing analytics for artists and labels on exactly who is listening to their music on the service. It’s all ad-supported, although the announcement doesn’t mention specific advertisers that are on board for the launch. Meanwhile, MySpace has sidestepped the row that accompanied its US debut by ensuring that tracks from Merlin, The Orchard, IODA, Nettwerk Music Group, INgrooves and other indie labels and distributors are included from launch.

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There’s a news event that we’re embargoed from writing about until 12.01am – which we’re sticking to. But in yet another sign of how Twitter is blasting big holes through traditional journalistic practices (like, well, embargoes), lots of people have been tweeting about a launch party they’re attending tonight (for example here, here and here.

Meanwhile, the event director of the launch party is also tweeting about what’s being launched, and MySpace’s own web developer is tweeting people to “check it out and let us know what you think!”.

You can’t ban people from tweeting at launch parties, but it is striking that Twitter users are effectively getting the scoop on the launch of a major new music service hours before journalists’ stories will go live.

Anyway, check back here at 12.01, eh?

Having sniped at MySpace’s streaming music service ever since its launch after being left out of initial licensing negotiations, Merlin finally has a deal with MySpace Music. That means its member labels – which Merlin says account for 10% of the global music market – will see their music added to the site’s catalogue.

The exact details of the deal have not been disclosed, but Merlin’s announcement says it involves “a plan tailored specifically for the independent music community that offers Merlin what it has sought from the outset – an opportunity to participate in and benefit from the financial growth of MySpace Music”.

An equity stake? Merlin does say that it will have a nominee who can attend and participate in MySpace Music board meetings. “MySpace Music values the support of the independent community and it has been a top priority for us to create a program that would reward their steadfast support of the service,” says MySpace Music boss Courtney Holt. “I am thrilled to have a plan in place that will allow them to reap additional financial benefits from their support and loyalty.”

The Telegraph is reporting that MySpace Music will go international this September with its UK launch, according to its ad agency sources.

“Everyone had expected MySpace Music to launch in April this year as the company had been touring the media agencies organising advertising deals to support the service,” says one digital agency head, claiming that new CEO Owen Van Natta delayed the launch to check the numbers. “He is expected to approve the business plan next week for an early September launch.”

The service will compete with Last.fm, Spotify and We7, although there has been persistent speculation that MySpace’s label partners are unhappy with its performance so far in the US.

This week has seen several reports claiming that MySpace Music has so far been a bit of a damp squib. Why? According to boss of independent music licensing company or “the virtual fifth major” Merlin, it’s because there’s scant few indies on the service. (more…)

TechCrunch is suggesting that Warner Music Group is hopping mad about its deal with MySpace Music in the US, because the deal “has no per song streaming cost, but includes a revenue share on advertising displayed when the song is played”.

In other words, the rival majors are getting sacks of loot for the billions of song streams on MySpace Music, and WMG isn’t.

We’re sceptical, to say the least – WMG isn’t in the habit of cutting over-generous deals for the likes of MySpace, surely? But TechCrunch says the label is already strapping on the knuckledusters for the negotiations when its deal is up for renewal.