Interesting news from AdAge in the US http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/e3i33196e5b482225224b25de211a59... that MySpace is looking for an ad agency to help relaunch the social networking site. There are some who'd have you believe that this is an impossible task, but we should remember that this is a site with over 40 million users in the US alone. It might be declining but it is hardly on its last legs.
Like a lot of music fans I never really fell out of love with the site. There is still no better place to go and check out new artists or listen to band's pre-album tracks. If MySpace didn't exist there would be a massive hole in my musical education.
Personally I think MySpace needs to focus on the music and stop worrying about social networking (I always found it odd that Americans used it for having conversations anyhow). Recognise that many people on the site are looking for new music and work to make that experience more fun. There is some basic coding stuff (the list of artists that bands like really ought to feature automated links now a la a Facebook) as well as tidying up those very tatty looking pages (properly integrating blog posts and news would be a start). They need to offer new music-related features too - how about a deal to enable bands to upload gigs, or video stream them via a service like Qik?
Finally they need to focus on communities that already exist online. Work with music bloggers. Do content syndication deals. Offer music blogs decent pages with lots of streaming facilities which could then be embedded on the blogs.
I do wonder though if all the money will be spent on trying to rebrand a site that urgently needs a revamp not mainstream marketing.
Ultimately News International could have a site with an audience of 50 million passionate music fans. How much better is that than one with 250 million people yet is still a pale fascimile of a site that does social networking a whole lot better.
