Live: MySpace Music Call: DRM-free Downloads, International Plans And More
This story was written by Staci D. Kramer.
Work in progress Waiting for the MySpace Music call to begin ... In the meantime, some details on what is being billed as a "global initiative that will include a 360 music experience":
-- downloads will be DRM-free; video and audio streaming will be ad-supported
-- E-commerce will include merchandise (Merchandise and ticketing)
-- the mobile storefront will be powered by News Corp-Verisign JV Jamba
-- Roll out will take place over months
-- As expected, Sony (NYSE: SNE) BMG, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG) are on board.
Call on: MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe: "It's an unprecedented effort .. truly history in the making, a real collaborative effort between MySpace and the music companies."
History lesson: This announcement today really builds on MySpace's four-year history." This really isn't new, it's a progression." With 30 million uniques monthly and 5 million bands on the site "we're not starting from scratch, it's a big heads start." A new chapter in the history of modern music ...modern music is about taking it to the people. "It's our vision for the music business."
Deep dive: MySpace COO Amit Kapur: Will center on MySpace Music home page, User home pages and artist profiles. Will add digital DRM-free downloads, a mobile content solution .. will also be creating new monetization models. ... MySpace Music is not just for major music companies, but will be ways for unsigned artists to sign on.
As we reported, they'll be hiring an executive management team.
Q&A:
-- No EMI? Up to EMI to explain.
-- we'll be layering on lots of community features from the recommendation enginesharing playlists, etc.
-- international? Plan to role out international as possible. complicated.
-- Revenue model? We're not going to discuss any of the specifics on the financial terms ...
-- Competition from Facebook, others? We have 30 million users ...
-- Pricing? Competitive with iPod?: Kapur: Not talking about the specifics on pricing but going to be very competitive.
JV partners: For some odd reason, as we reported earlier, the labels aren't on the calla bit unusual for a JV announcement. Instead, MySpace issued prepared comments from Sony BMG's CEO Rolf Schmidt-Holtz, UMG Chairman and CEO Doug Morris,, and WMG Chairman and CEO Edgar Bronfman, Jr.
By Staci D. Kramer