Back in May, we published an editorial regarding MySpace’s relaunch, and what that could mean to old wizard rock songs that only exist on a defunct band’s MySpace page. A number of articles were linked to, supporting our concerns that older information might be deleted, and a healthy discussion took place in the comments section of the article about whether or not it would be ethical to download, archive, and share songs that bands may not have intended to be shared in that way.
Nearly a month after that editorial was published, a representative from MySpace reached out to us to help answer any concerns that the article raised. In an email, he let us know that keeping band pages was a priority with the “new” MySpace’s relaunch, and that all music pages had already been converted over to the new MySpace format. All bands needed to do was log into their page and convert their content over to the new layout – a concern we raised about defunct bands with no interest in logging into their old pages (or bands who simply couldn’t remember their access credentials). He also clarified that no music pages would be removed – they would all be converted to the new platform.
So on the good side – no lost music!
On the bad side – pretty much everything else has been lost.
If you go to any band’s MySpace page now, unless they’ve logged in and converted their content to the “new” layout, all you see is a blank page with the band’s logo to the left, and their music to the right. Not very attractive.
Further – MySpace has deleted blogs across the spectrum. All of those fond written memories about Wrockstock or Leaky, the blogs detailing tour adventures, the album writeups to discuss song inspirations and recording processes… all gone.
In addition to blogs, other items formerly used on the now “old” MySpace are gone, including private messages. So any saved correspondence you have with, well, ANYONE, is now gone, never to return. No more reaching out to fans of your band via MySpace to let them know you have a new release coming out, or a few upcoming shows.
Last one out, please remember to turn off the lights.
Rather than give users a sense of security, it seems that MySpace has instead put yet another nail in their coffin when it comes to relevant social media platforms. Wizard rock bands (in fact, bands in general) have already moved to other platforms to interact with fans – Bandcamp to share (and sell) music, Facebook for real-time updates and news, Twitter for interaction, etc. It definitely does appear that MySpace, for all intents and purposes as a viable social and sharing platform, is dead.
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