MySpace to enable sales of music downloads

[illusionofjoy]

From the Associated Press via Yahoo! News:

LOS ANGELES - MySpace.com will soon enable members of the popular online social networking hub to sell downloads of their original music directly through MySpace Web pages, company executives said.

The initiative, which is still in a test phase, has the potential to turn millions of computer users, many of them independent or aspiring artists already using the site to build a fan following, into online music retailers.

Los Angeles-based MySpace was expected to formally announce the venture and its partnership with San Francisco-based Snocap Inc., which developed the technology, on Tuesday.

Chris DeWolfe, MySpace's chief executive, said the online music venture is a logical progression for the Internet portal, given changing trends in the music industry that have made it more affordable for bands to make quality recordings and make them available online.

I mentioned to a friend on the night when I uploaded track from The Forever Syndrome the Illusion of Joy MySpace Page that it took me seven tries to get the songs to do what I expected them to (streaming with downloads disabled, page adding enabled and the proper associated cover art with each track). This is not an uncommon occurance for me when using MySpace. Furthermore, I have never had a day pas when I've logged into the site and have browsed their pages without getting their ubiquitous "technical error" page or having a member page freeze up my browser. If they can not get their act together on these issues, does MySpace really think I'm going to trust them with financial transactions?

I started selling albums through CD Baby this year. Division is available for purchase and The Forever Syndrome will be available as well. Along with CD sales, they offer other services to help independant musicians. Amoung these are the ability the license and sell tracks from an album as digital downloads for purchase from various sites, including iTunes (CD Baby does not directly sell digital downloads of songs). Given the extremely positive experience I've had working with CD Baby, should I decide to join the MP3 era of music distribution, I would choose a dependable outlet, rather than some upstart with a track record of buggy code which has caused me to issue vulgarities towards my computer monitor on more than one occasion.

Chances are that the MySpace download endevour will be somewhat sucessful, if for no other reason than that the site is obscenely popular. When it comes to the 14-25 demographic, no other social networking site comes close to touching MySpace. I would like to think, though, that if someone were interested enough in my music to want to purchase it, they wouldn't blanche at the thought of having to click the link to the Store@illusionofjoy.net or CD Baby. Personally, I won't be purchasing any digital downloads from MySpace, not only because of my aforementioned reasons but because I am still a fan of owning CDs and vinyl records.

Comments

[evilkellychan.livejournal.com]

I started selling albums through CD Baby this year. Division is available for purchase and The Forever Syndrome will be available as well.

dang, i better get some money together so i can purchase those... heh. yeah, i slack on CD purchases, sometimes. forgive me.

[lord-null.livejournal.com]

iTunes? oooOOOoo...