MySpace Music: 1 billion songs streamed

MySpace says that 1 billion songs have been streamed since the News Corp. social network debuted its MySpace Music service last month.

"We can confirm that we hit a milestone of one billion music streams only a few days after launching the new product," the company said in a statement, and a MySpace PR representative clarified to CNET News that the number only includes songs streamed since MySpace Music's debut. "More importantly, we are still compiling our metrics on engagement and unique users which will tell a much richer story on how positively the community is responding to the new music experience. We're excited to share more information and data as soon as it's available."

MySpace Music launched on September 24, with the catalogs of all four major record labels as well as indie music distributors encompassed by Sony ATV. The debut was accompanied by heavy promotion from big-name artists, across other Fox Interactive Media properties, and even a billboard in Times Square.

The iTunes Music Store, the biggest name in digital music, hit the five-billion-songs mark in June after over five years in business. But it's not really comparable to MySpace Music, because iTunes is a software download rather than Web-based, and charges 99 cents per song. MySpace Music streaming is free.

Let's do some simple math: if MySpace has about 120 million members worldwide, that's slightly over eight songs per member. Obviously, not all MySpace users have streamed any music, and there are probably quite a few who have streamed far more than eight songs. That's also a rough estimate, considering you do not have to be a MySpace member to stream songs--any visitor to, say, the Jonas Brothers' MySpace page could simply hit the "play" button.

But a billion is still a big number--and CNET News is waiting to hear from some third-party analysts and research firms to see if anyone has a different take on it.

[winstein]

Apples & Oranges. Download vs Streaming; Paid vs Free; Offline vs Online. This is not a comparison. It is just propaganda and paid promotion.

[dascha1]

Oh, so MySpace is now a music company? Funny, if so, to follow in the footsteps of sooo many who can't make it in their own space!

[theAtomicBob]

Viva La Revolution, it was bound to happen. Since someone bought the company now all this is new news again? I've put up songs for my band/label on myspace the last 3 years and haven't seen a dime from any of it. As an artist there is this thing called "autoplay" the artist can use so the artist gets a "play" or credit for the song when anyone who opens the page. That can make all the hype misleading... thats my interpretation. If I get 5 million "autoplays" maybe one day this will be cool.

[GreginChicagoland]

What we should take away from this is that MySpace and Amazon now have the potential to take away some cash if you play the law of averages that at least a percentage will buy .

Consider that the music industry wants a competitor so bad, that they are willing to give Amazon the keys to the kingdom. So what happens if Amazon continues to get exposure into other markets and eventually becomes a music giant such as Apple. Will the labels be able to then deal with the monster that they created?

I do think it is smart for MySpace to have an outlet (albeit PC only) for purchasing and keeping buyers on their site. The easier the consumer experience is, the more money should flow.

[dascha1]

"Enjoy playing music in the business for the sake of performing music. Because if all you want to do is make money in this business you'll probably never make it."

- Roy Clark
American Country & Folk Musician/Singer

[MaggieRed]

Propaganda and BS. Another McCarthy example of fine journalism.

[Kev_Orng]

So the Myspace service lets you stream the track, assuming you're connected to the net, for free.
iTunes and Amazon let you buy, download and keep the track to do with what you will, listen ad nauseum, burn it to disks, and load it onto your music devices.

Where is the comparison again?