Music on the Interwebz0

by AJ Focht

The music industry has won the day as file sharing program Limewire has been forced to stop its “searching, downloading, uploading, file trading and/or file distribution functionality.” Limewire was ordered by US courts to shut down its services after being found in violation of mass copyright infringement.

This major file sharing service may have closed down but it is only a temporary block until its users find another site. The music industry has been fighting internet pirating sites since Napster, and for each victory they win another hundred sites pop up in their place. The Internet Industry Association says, “the music industry needs to focus on new business models.”

With that in mind, could MySpace be the answer the music industry is waiting for? With the launch of the new Myspace reboot, the site has taken a step away from the social networking world and is going in a new direction.

The new Myspace will feature three different ways in which each user can view the site. The first is the classic Myspace layout, keeping your homepage almost the way you left it. The second layout covers the screen with a slideshow of recommended media. The final Myspace layout is similar to Twitter Messages, with media and other announcements being updated in real time allowing you to see what your friends are doing as they do it.

How does all of this lead to Myspace saving the music industry? Well the biggest change that Myspace is making is the focus on the media element of their website. Media, especially music, is hoped to be the driving force behind the new Myspace.

Musicians will be able to host their music on Myspace, as always. Now the focus of the site will be on the members acting as “curators” and sharing media with each other. New music and videos will be shared in real time by the users; this means that the users will create the trends of what music is getting exposure via Myspace. Users will also be rewarded by Myspace for sharing content. Myspace will promote profiles of active users and award them “badges” such as “Taste Maker”.

The Myspace redesign sounds like it has the potential to change the way media is experienced on the internet. If the music industry is really looking for that internet-friendly business plan, this could be therein. Myspace has always stood out in the music industry and this redesign might give them the proverbial ‘corner market’ on internet music.