myspace

Microsoft's MSN is in preliminary talks with MySpace about using the social-networking site's music service, MySpace Music, to help power music offerings on the giant portal.

While sources at both companies cautioned that the talks are still early, Microsoft, which has its own music site that it programs with original and partnered content, execs are interested in goosing it.

That's because MSN Music consistently ranks substantially lower than other big online music properties in terms of traffic, while MySpace Music is always near the top.

Sources said Microsoft execs don't think they can do as good … Read more

MySpace and Facebook are hooking up? In a way. Maybe. But the real meat of the news today is all the e-book hype. Barnes and Noble will sell the Que, Bridgestone has a color one coming out, and Barnes and Noble may not always have its own Nook eReader. But does anyone want them?

MySpace and Facebook? http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10383501-36.html

Google Voice makes steps to work with your phone number http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-10383573-248.html

Microsoft pulls out … Read more

Sound the alarms! The U.K.'s Telegraph news outlet has a story that seems to prove the unthinkable: that onetime social-networking rivals Facebook and MySpace could actually be working on some kind of partnership.

Two years ago this would've been a huge deal. Now? I'm really not surprised.

"The move could potentially see MySpace music and video footage being shared on Facebook via its Connect platform, which allows people to log into third-party sites using their Facebook ID," the article by Emma Barnett explains.

It then quotes Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg as saying … Read more

Once the world's largest social-networking service and an essential tool for musicians, MySpace has fallen upon hard times, but I'm encouraged by one of the new services the company announced Wednesday.

The MySpace Artist Dashboard is a new free tool for any artist with a music profile page on the site. For artists, it offers demographic information about the people who are visiting your site, and a breakdown of what they're doing there. The geographic data could be particularly useful for small touring bands to help plan their routes. I was also encouraged by the statement from … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--With both MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta and News Corp. chief digital officer Jonathan Miller taking the stage at the Web 2.0 Summit this week, there was naturally plenty of talk about the social site's attempt to reverse its ill fortune of late. Once the biggest name in social networking, it's long since lost that title to Facebook and is trying to reinvent itself as a destination for music and entertainment.

"I think that what you see in the space more than anything else is if you don't keep innovating and moving forward you … Read more

EMI and Warner Music Group, the two smallest of the four top recording companies, has begun discussing the possibility of joining Vevo, the music-video venture created by Universal Music Group.

Universal Music, the largest of the major labels, has already landed Sony Music Entertainment, the second largest and fresh off banking an undisclosed investment from investors in the Middle East. The technology platform Vevo will operate on will be powered by YouTube.

Vevo's creators have said the site will feature high-quality music videos and other original content, most of it coming from each of the participating labels' artists. Music … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--He's not kidding about making changes.

MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta took the stage at the Web 2.0 Summit event on Wednesday and paraded out a whole slew of announcements related to turning the flagging social network into a music and media powerhouse. He showed off a massive catalog of music videos--coming from all the partners in the MySpace Music joint venture--and an enhanced set of tools for bands using the site as a marketing and promotional hub. Plus, the MySpace Music service now syncs up with Apple's iTunes, not just Amazon MP3.

It was … Read more

If you're expecting to get updates from celebrities on all their latest movies, you might be disappointed: Hollywood might be trying to curb celebrity use of social networks.

A Hollywood Reporter blog post recently reported that "there's a growing number of studio deals with new language aimed specifically at curbing usage of social-media outlets by actors, execs and other creatives." The studios hope confidential information about the films they're producing won't leak out on major social networks.

The Hollywood Reporter, Esq. blog reported that both Disney and DreamWorks have already added clauses to their … Read more

Social networking is definitely seeing a reshuffling of its top players.

Facebook and Twitter are in, MySpace is out, according to Experian Hitwise.

The Internet monitoring company reported last week that Facebook, the No. 1 social network in the U.S., grew its share of all the visits to social-networking sites from 19 percent in September 2008 year to 58.6 a year later. That's a more than 190 percent increase.

Over the same period, Twitter's share jumped from 0.15 percent to 1.84 percent, and the service now ranks as the fourth largest social network.

Ailing … Read more