Today In Music: MySpace’s entertainment focus to lead to job cuts. Tomorrow perhaps?
We’d previously heard that MySpace is on course to cut jobs soon and AllThingsD today put that number at around 550 to 600 jobs and promises the announcement will be coming tomorrow.
The way one person familiar with the company’s thinking puts it, MySpace will be restructuring to realign its staff better with its new focus as a social entertainment site targeting Generation Y. It would also give it an opportunity to resolve various legacy issues. Being a social entertainment site would probably be an easier path than as a social networking site on a hiding to nothing versus the all mighty Facebook but there are probably still questions about how it will make its money beyond advertising. MySpace despite its troubles still remains a key venue for promoting established bands and thousands of aspiring musicians.
The other story from AllThingsD is that News Corp, as we’ve reported, is also being considered for sale but ATD (which is also owned by News Corp) points out that the parent company is shopping MySpace primarily to private equity buyers though Yahoo is also being considered.
Currently, no talks are happening at News Corp with outsiders on this but it’s a very fluid situation which could change very rapidly once the ‘realignment’ has happened.
It seemed only a few years ago MySpace was the new hot thing on the block but times change rapidly in social media. Below is a pic of News Corp chief Rupert Murdoch and MySpace founder Chris De Wolfe in happier times in 2007.(Photo: Reuters)
MySpace: Be ready to read this story twice
MySpace, the online social network (can we still call it that now that it has ducked out of the Facebook/Twitter competition?), appears to be pursuing what I’ll call the “two-pronged news strategy.” You get used to it when you cover media and technology. For those of you who don’t enjoy this privilege, it goes like this:
- Pick a news outlet that you like and whisper things to them about what you’re doing. It doesn’t have to be interesting, it just has to be exclusive. If you’re in public relations, you don’t even have to know that someone in your company is doing this. It works well for you.
- Let the rest of the press read the story and bombard your telephone and e-mail with messages demanding to know if it’s true. Score a big hit on the news cycle. Because you either decline to comment or only want to talk “on background,” it heightens the air of mystery — and newsworthiness.
- The official announcement of the news, which will always resemble 90 percent or more of what you read in the first round of anonymously sourced stories, will get just as much attention as that first round. It’s a 2-for-1 deal that is irresistible to many companies.
I don’t know that MySpace is doing this, and wouldn’t be able to confirm it if I asked. It could just be that the reporters who get the breaking news have great sources and the reporter asked smart questions that would yield good answers. I’ll let you judge.
The first example comes from Kara Swisher, tech blogger at AllThingsD, which is MySpace’s cousin in the News Corp family. She reports:
Microsoft’s MSN is in preliminary talks with MySpace about using the social networking site’s music service, MySpace Music, to help power music offerings on the giant portal. …
Sources said Microsoft execs don’t think they can do as good a job as MySpace is doing and don’t see the point in striking needed but complex deals with music labels, which the News Corp. (NWS) property already has.
MySpace, Swisher adds, would get a “gusher” of traffic. I asked MySpace whether we could talk about this. From spokeswoman: “Off the record I can’t comment.” OK.
Sucks being them….. having to set things straight,it will never happen.that news will go around the world a couple of times before is even slows down..HA
MySpace in talks to buy iLike for $20m – reports
MySpace is looking to buy Web music service iLike for around $20 million according to several blogs. iLike co-founder Hadi Partovi declined to comment when we asked him and MySpace’s PR team also declined to share details.
All Things Digital has the latest details of the deal which they say is around $13.5 million in cash, with a $6 million earn out for the founders which include Hadi’s twin brother Ali who is CEO. Official confirmation of an agreement is being held up by “thorny tax issues” according to All Things Digital’s sources.
The news makes some sense because as MySpace is fast losing ground to Facebook in the social networking arena. MySpace’s owner, News Corp, has indicated that it sees the site becoming more of an entertainment portal.
In fact according to our sources MySpace Music, the joint venture between MySpace and the major music companies, is one of the few parts of MySpace that’s doing well — at least in terms of popularity and usage.
iLike, which was once the darling of the the digital music start-up world, has ended up struggling like many others, as the industry tries to find a new profitable model for the distribution of recorded music over the Web. iLike has one huge advantage — it is default music application/platform on Facebook. It also has corporate backing from Ticketmaster.
But rather like its host Facebook, iLike’s popularity has yet to translate into meaningful dollars leading to what some of the blogs are terming a ‘fire sale’ of its assets.
AllThingsD also had details of other potential bidders which the blog said included Activision and Microsoft.
Apple event next month not likely to feature tablet -blog
Tech bloggers love to write about Apple, for better or for worse. The secretive nature of the company means a lot of those blogs are speculative and light on sources, yet we still all love to read them because the house that Steve built is indeed both a fascinating and hugely successful company.
The latest round of speculation is around Apple’s planned September keynote event which sources have told AllThingsDigital is due to take place on Wednesday, Sept 9 in San Francisco. There has been a huge amount of speculation around whether Apple will unveil a new tablet device but sources tell the blogs there will be “no discussion whatsoever” of the such a device.
AllThingsDigital’s John Paczkowski isn’t giving up though saying: “Too bad. It’s looking more and more like we’ll have to wait until 2010 for that.”
It’s now expected that Apple will debut a new social version of its iTunes media player and unveil new versions of its iPod.
The other big question is whether Steve Jobs will make his first appearance since returning to work after his liver transplant.
Keep an eye on:
It now appears that Apple may have two tablets to show off on September 9th.
Viva Apple! I’m thrilled and can’t wait to see what they have. Steve Jobs and company will once again lead the world into a new technology that everyone is sure to emulate and once again will be playing catch Apple.
posted by John Gotts
YouTube’s mythbusters: When blogs attack
It’s taken a while but YouTube is officially pushing back at the various estimates on how much money it costs parent Google by satisfying our collective hunger for million of video clips every day. Google paid $1.65 billion for YouTube in 2006, when it bought the site from Chad Hurley and former CTO Steve Chen (pictured).
Various YouTube executives we’ve spoken to privately over the last year have bristled at the idea that they are an expensive experiment for Google without a clear profit-making business model. Google CEO Eric Schmidt took the first step in a change of communications strategy in an group interview with reporters at the Sun Valley conference two weeks ago, and to more listeners on the Google earnings call on Thursday. His central point was that everyone’s favorite video site is on the path to profitability.
On Monday, two of YouTube’s PR executives hit back at some of the myths about YouTube’s business with a blog titled “YouTube myth busting.” These include claims that it only features short-form, grainy user-generated content when in fact it has deals with Hollywood partners and features HD content. They also said more than 70 percent of AdAge Top 100 marketers ran campaigns on YouTube in 2008.
But two disputed myths that raised the hackles of the tech blogosphere were related to 1) estimates of YouTube’s cost structure and 2) the “oft-cited” stat that YouTube only monetizes 3-5 percent of the site, which the PR execs said was “old and wrong.” The bloggers wanted some numbers and they didn’t get any from this YouTube’s blog
Here’s Henry Blodget of Business Insider:
Enough already. We’re glad that YouTube has not turned out to be a disaster. (We weren’t among those who thought it would be). But we can’t stand this attitude. If Google is tired of people “picking any number to fit any theory,” then they should just publish the facts.
Peter Kafka of AllThings Digital calls it ‘modest boasting‘:
Yahoo: new boss, and (almost) everyone’s happy!
We’ve had two months to ruminate, speculate and analyze about who will take over as Yahoo chief executive after co-founder Jerry Yang who decided 18 months in the hotseat was enough for him.
Carol Bartz, former chief executive of Autodesk, was appointed CEO on Tuesday after her name had been floated ”on sources” a few days earlier in various reports.
Yahoo shares were flat on Wednesday morning and most Wall Street analysts viewed the appointment as a positive as it clears the way for Yahoo to do some sort of merger/outsourcing deal with Microsoft.
Bartz, a director at Cisco, also got a glowing endorsement from Cisco chief John Chambers, according to the New York Times:
“She’s the best player in the draft,” said John Chambers, the chief executive of Cisco Systems, where Ms. Bartz has served as a board member since 1996. Mr. Chambers said Ms. Bartz often challenged him on strategic decisions, like mergers and acquisitions, to make sure they had been thought through well. And Ms. Bartz is not afraid to speak her mind, he said.
“You always know where she stands,” Mr. Chambers said. “You may not always like it.”
But more importantly what does the blogosphere think of Bartz?
Microsoft, Yahoo, restless pigeons and balloons
Have you ever watched pigeons almost take flight as someone approaches, but after a brief flapping of wings decide to sit tight? That was the sense we got from reading the stories that knocked down the latest rumor about who will buy Internet search company Yahoo.
Here’s the story, posted by Michael Arrington’s TechCrunch blog:
Interest in troubled Internet giant Yahoo has not waned, it just took a break for the holidays.
A group of well known Silicon Valley executives and top investment bankers are putting together a Yahoo takeover deal that would be financed largely from debt supplied by Microsoft, we’ve learned from sources with knowledge of the proposed transaction.
Under the terms of the proposed deal, the investment group would make a takeover bid for Yahoo at a relatively low premium of around 20% to its current price of around $13 per share, valuing the company at just over $20 billion.
Nuh-uh, says Kara Swisher of Dow Jones’s All Things D blog:
[When] you actually talk to sources at the wallet itself-that would be the money-laden Microsoft — they scoff at the notion that they would help others buy Yahoo (YHOO), in order to get at its search business.
Uncle Walt bends FCC chairman over his knee
Walt Mossberg, the world’s most powerful technology product reviewer, opened the final session of the D: All Things Digital conference with an angry tirade against the s-s-s-low state of broadband in the United States.
“WE ARE VERY SLOW,” Mossberg complained of U.S. Internet access speeds.
The target of 61-year-old Uncle Walt’s wrath was Kevin Martin, 42, the boyish-looking chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, who was punished on-stage before an audience of high-tech industry insiders.
Mossberg: “You are the head of the FCC. How have you allowed this to happen? I AM DEAD SERIOUS. HOW HAVE YOU ALLOWED THIS TO HAPPEN?
Martin: “I am not sure I am solely responsible. I am also not sure the charts capture the whole story. I think you do have to put in the context some of the demographics of the United States and some of the countries we are competing against.
Mossberg: Does that explain why we pay $12.50 per megabit in the United States as opposed to $3.09 in Japan and $3.70 in France? Why are we paying four times as much?
Martin: Yes it does. Because it costs a lot more to build out in more rural areas and people who live further apart… We have a history of averaging some of the cost to make it affordable for people in Montana.
Martin should have seen it coming. Mossberg has been on a crusade over slow broadband speeds for some time, including a call to stop calling slower-speed DSL “broadband.” It’s just one of the many things that annoy him about how computer and consumer electronics industries treat their consumers. Other pet peeves include junk programs pre-installed by PC makers Mossberg calls craplets and any device that doesn’t aspire to Apple-scale product design genius.
Here are the stats that Mossberg and Martin were debating:
Just “[b]ecause it costs a lot more to build out in more rural areas and people who live further apart” doesn’t mean the service in cities and suburbs has too be so inferior. The averaging of costs may seem like a good excuse under a shallow cursory look, but it falls apart with examination.
