7digital CEO disses MySpace Music launch

by Scott Bicheno on 3 December 2009, 11:54

Tags: News Corp (NASDAQ:NWS), 7digital

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Great choice?

Flagging News Corp-owned social networking site MySpace has launched it new, Spotify-like, free music streaming service today: MySpace Music.

The press release says it offers "free access to one of the most comprehensive catalogue of audio tracks and music videos available on the web," but as well as driving traffic, the real business model concerns the deal with Apple to make iTunes the exclusive e-commerce partner for people wanting to buy music they hear on MySpace Music.

We searched for ‘Metallica' on MySpace Music (you don't even have to log in) and sure enough found a buy link, which yielded a pop-out box directing us to iTunes. It also said "Great Choice" so we naturally assumed there had been some kind of taste algorithm programmed into the site. A subsequent search, however, revealed this can't possibly be the case.