Facebook plans to launch its own digital music service in competition with MySpace Music, company CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said.
With social network competitor MySpace using its high-level News Corp. connections to launch a major label-friendly (some say too friendly) music service, Facebook – already hurting through sustained criticism of its new user interface and continually plagued by the challenge of monetising its traffic – plans to hit back.
Ads-supported music service We7 implemented a range of service upgrades in recent days as it prepares for full launch next month.
The company confirmed it has recently signed or is signing an array of labels – EMI, Warner Music, Sony BMG, PIAS, The Orchard, Pinnacle and INgrooves – meaning all the majors bar Universal are on board.
This also means the company is broadening its catalogue, with the company informing, “We are uploading as many as 50,000 tracks a day, with more to come.”
The service has also seen an extensive re-design, and new features have been introduced to make sharing and blogging music from the service easier. There is also a new persistent music player at the top of each page, which means that as you browse around We7, your music continues to play.
MySpace’s MyAds scheme is to be opened up to the public with the company particularly hungry to convince bands to use the service, which will let them create banner ads targeted at specific demographic groups of MySpace users.
Billboard claims 1,100 categories of interest, ranging from hip-hop to rock to tattooing. There is a $25 minimum per campaign.
This ads took has been available in private beta to a small pool of MySpace users for a few months after being introduced for large brands last year.
MySpace Music was launched last month, offering on-demand music streaming and song downloads.
TheFilter.com has signed a deal with ads-supported music service We7 in which both firms will work together on new music filtering and recommendation tools for We7 users.
We7, which recently signed EMI for its ad-supported streaming music service, now has a catalogue of over three million tracks. But the site claims that it is now a challenge for its users to discover new music based on tastes due to the huge choice available.
TheFilter.com’s integration into the We7 service will combat this problem by giving users access to its smart filtering tools. The tools use an advanced mathematical algorithm to filter out music that a user will not like and filter in content that reflects their taste. Continue reading
MySpace will launch its long-expected MySpace Music service in the US – and has secured music from all the majors, including the last minute addition of EMI – but failed to agree terms with the indie labels.
The hybrid ads-funded streaming and paid-for download business lets users build as many playlists as they want, each containing up to 100 songs which can be streamed at no cost.
MySpace users in the US will encounter a new page in their profiles called “My Music” where they will be able to create playlists. My Music will contain a default initial playlist called “My Profile Song History” that contains all the songs subscribers have added to their profiles until now. The music search engine has been improved so that users can search not only by artist name but also by song and album titles.
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CBS Mobile has made its EyeMobile iPhone application for citizen journalists available through Apple’s App Store.
The trend toward citizen journalism has its detractors, though at its roots the right to free speech in the US comes from the actions of individual non-professional writers whose efforts with pamphlets and books helped create independence for the US.
EyeMobile allows users to upload images of current events from their iPhone to CBS’ mobile journalism website. Moconews observes that popular recent items include hurricane footage and pictures snapped at political events. “The application represents the first major effort from any of the TV networks since the app store launched,” it says.
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CBS Interactive has tied an intriguing deal with iWidgets, under which US viewers will be able to populate their Facebook and MySpace pages with their favourite CBS shows, among other features.
The two firms will demonstrate their future-focused social broadcast offering tomorrow at the DEMO conference in San Diego.
The iWidgets Social Syndication Platform will enable users to watch full episodes of television programming directly within popular social networks, and to socially engage others with engaging such features as sharing, polls, ratings, and contests.
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Facing increasing competition in the market, online video service, Joost, has opted to dump its desktop client, reinventing itself as a cross-platform browser plug-in.
Joost was the brainchild of Skype/Kazaa co-founders Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström. At its inception the service aimed to distribute TV shows and other video content online using its own proprietary peer-to-peer technology.
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– You can view your friend’s playlists and favourite songs. Sections for Top Artists, Top Albums and more are additionally available, you can listen to music based on tags you type in, whether that be an artist’s name, a style of music or…