![]() |
|
|
|
|
|
bmusic Newsletter No.241 October 24th - October 30th 2006 Just a postscript to the last couple of weeks discussing the YouTube takeover by Google. Seems the war has begun and it' all about corporate bucks, as one would expect. Myspace has finalised it's "MySpace Video" service and you may have noticed in the last week or so it slotting four link spots on it's homepage for featured videos. In the past MySpace users had to code their own videos into their profiles but now, in much the same way as YouTube works, users can upload a video to their profile to be hosted on MySpace rather than an outside party host. The announcement from MySpace's "Tom" was as follows: hey everyone - so we've got a new video feature. any video on myspace can be added to your profile with one click. it's like a song and music mini player on your profile. just click 'add to my profile' on the video page, and it'll put the video on your profile - you don't have to copy or paste code ... of course if you still want to grab the embed code and put the video in a different place, feel free. Guess my battle for the correct use of capital letters is a somewhat fickle one when 100 million or so MySpace users read that :) Anyway, I digress. Obviously this is a direct hit at the YouTube phenomenon, and Rupert Murdoch, head of MySpace's owner News Corp, has had a bit to say about the Google/YouTube affair. According to the Wall Street Journal News Corp has complained that Google didn't give News Corp an "opportunity to participate in the sale process' before going ahead". What? Are they supposed to play fair or something all of a sudden??? Before the sale, talking up the forthcoming MySpace Video that is now live, Murdoch was addressing an audience in New York when he predicted that MySpace Video would overtake YouTube in 60 to 70 days. That was in mid-September. With the publicity YouTube has copped lately he has a big job ahead of him to make good on his claim. I wonder, has he ever checked out any MySpace profiles? There must be about a gabillion YouTube videos embedded in MySpace profiles, direct promotion for his new corporate competitor. What a bizarre situation that has developed. MySpace, with a staggering near 80 percent of US website traffic, has been feeding YouTube it's 60 percent of the video market with those embedded videos! Now they both have corporate giants behind them. Many feared MySpace would make it difficult or impossible to link YouTube videos in profiles. I expect MySpace entertained that notion, but they likely feared, and justifiably so, a backlash from users had they done so. Their hands were firmly tied on that. It will be fascinating to watch how these two web traffic behemoths now combat one another, there is a significant amount of money at stake. At least News Corp has a little less to lose. At US$580 million for MySpace's half-parent Intermix Media a little over a year ago, what a steal compared to US$1.6 billion for YouTube! There will have to be some smart cookies at both YouTube and MySpace to retain the phenomenons they have seen their respective sites become because both were seen as independent and community driven and now they have big price tags to pay off. MySpace ahs already started to show the signs of needing to make much more money than it did prior to the News Corp buyout. When's the last time you saw an unknown small time act on the front page of MySpace? The minute another "independent" social networking or whatever type of site comes along those users who like to consider themselves as "underground" and not of the man will leave the corporates in droves. The cycle of the internet is undeniable. Some very interesting times to come. Don't forget the current bmusic.com.au Seymour Duncan 2006 Australian Tour Commemorative Pickup Set Competition where every purchase from bmusic.com.au adds up to an entry to win the hand-wound, hand-engraved Seymour Duncan pickup set created to commemorate Seymour's recent tour of Australia. Click HERE if you've not yet checked out how you can go about winning this rare set of pickups valued at $800 IF you could actually buy them (which you can't)! This week, a Where Are They Now? with a twist, we need your help! I've yet to meet a person aware of TV in the early 80s, maybe even simply aware of chart singles, that hasn't had their grey matter kicked and the chorus and melody, oftentimes more, pour out when reminded of the first line of the chorus to this bloke's mega one-hit. Regulars including Feature Article, The Week Ahead in Music History, Featured Artist and more are all inside Issue 241 of the bmusic Newsletter. Links in the Table of contents below will launch your browser, so you'll need to be online to view the newsletter. If you are unable to receive html format e-mails then copy and paste the following link into your browser's address bar to view the newsletter: http://www.bmusic.com.au/links/whatsnew/newsletters/archives/newsno241.html Thanks to everyone for reading, we'll see you next week! TABLE OF CONTENTS (You will need to be online to use the Table of Contents to jump through sections) Events Births Deaths |
WHERE ARE THEY NOW? - JOEY SCARBURY
FEATURED PRODUCT - SANCTUARY RECORDING & LIVE SOUND BOOKS
THIS WEEK'S FEATURE ARTICLE - ANALYSIS OF A RECORDING CONTRACT
THE WEEK AHEAD IN MUSIC
DON’T
WANT THE bmusic NEWSLETTER?
Copyright © 2006
![]()