Don’t call it a comeback (well, sort of do call it a comeback). Secret Shows – Myspace’s, well, secret shows – have returned after a two-year sabbatical with a Mysterious Spoon gig in Manhattan. Between 2006 and 2012, the series put on shows by acts such as Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Cure and in the meantime the perma-relaunching social network has struck partnerships with Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Bud Light. “If you look at where success has been and where we can get back to the community on our site, and do things that are really cool and unique, experiential types of events, these are no-brainers,” Ron Nielsen, GM at Myspace, tells Billboard. It has been very quiet around Myspace for a long time, but the company claimed in October last year it had 36m users, a 50% increase before its relaunch that summer. It was unclear, however, if they were registered users or active users. Many digital marketing people Music Ally has spoken to in recent years never mention Myspace in their activities and, despite its strong SEO, regard it as a lost cause. While it deserves credit for being a pioneer in both social activity and online music, it faces a serious uphill struggle if it is to regain even a fraction of the relevance it had almost a decade ago.
Tools: platforms to help you reach new audiences
Tools: Kaiber
In the year or so since its launch, AI startup Kaiber has been making waves,…