Tech Report: MySpace Redesign Takes Shape
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) – It's been a year since Justin Timberlake announced that he was buying a stake in MySpace, trying to help reverse the fortunes of the once-dominant social networking site.
But the company, which started to show off its fresh new redesign last week, still has a big challenge ahead as it competes with the likes of Pandora and Spotify.
KCBS Technology Analyst Larry Magid:
MySpace was always a huge source of music in its heyday and by bringing in Timberlake, the thought was the company would get back to its roots. But it's still unclear if the new website, which has been completely reworked, will be able to once again capitalize on the connection between artists who are looking to get discovered and fans.
While MySpace is still a great site to discover new music and artists, part of the problem is there is a tug-of-war for the company. It is trying to compete with music services and websites like Spotify and Pandora to attract music lovers, who can listen to music, discover new artists and easily connect with them from a social media aspect. But MySpace still also has to compete with Facebook from a social media perspective. Part of the reason the company had to try to rebrand itself is because of the growing popularity of Facebook in the mid-2000s.
The question is whether MySpace will be able to continue to attract artists to use the website and have their fans join in and switch over from sites and services that are already established, like Facebook, Spotify or Pandora.
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