Viral Profits

Unsigned bands have been utilizing the wildly popular social networking site, MySpace, to increase viral efforts and get their name out there. They are now about to get an even better opportunity to be heard with the announcement of MySpace entering the music download market.

Yahoo! News reports that for support on the technological aspects, MySpace has partnered with Snocap, a company founded by Napster founder Shawn Fanning.

With the avalanche of companies entering into the music download market, many are awaiting to see if the power MySpace holds will be able to launch them even more success with this latest venture.

Yahoo! News also pointed out that Samsung Electronics will start a subscription service later this year with partner MusicNet. Additionally, and a new company, SpiralFrog, said it will offer free music downloads backed by Universal Music Group’s catalog, which will be supported by advertising. Alternatively, already established Napster and Yahoo subscription based services exist, but are not extremely successful in holding a stiff competition with the leader, Apple iTunes.

USAToday stated “Digital music is the fastest-growing sector of the record industry, but the market is dominated by iTunes, which has more than 70% of U.S. sales, according to NPD Research. iTunes is only fully compatible with the iPod.” Understanding this fact, MySpace co-founder Chris DeWolfe stated, “Everyone we've spoken to definitely wants an alternative to iTunes and the iPod. MySpace could be that alternative.”

With millions of users already logged on and submerged into the MySpace community, this is a great chance for artists to speak to their current fans and reach out to potential fans. For the nearly 3 million bands already utilizing MySpace as a marketing outlet, hopefully this door will increase their reach as well as profits.



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