MySpace.com, the social networking site with 35 million members recently acquired by News Corporation, announced on Thursday the launch of its own record label, an imprint of Universal Music Group's Interscope Records. Some 550,000 band pages are among the user profiles on MySpace.com where bands post songs and tour dates, while users can add bands as "friends" and communicate through blogs and message boards. Major label acts including Madonna, Coldplay and Nine Inch Nails have also used MySpace to promote new releases, often offering pre-release streaming samples.
The first release on MySpace Records will be a compilation, "MySpace Records: Volume I," featuring tracks from Weezer, Fall Out Boy, AFI and Dashboard Confessional. Also featured on the compilation is Hollywood Undead, a Los Angeles-based band whose album will be the first proper release on the label, scheduled for the second quarter of 2006. "Radio has become less and less important... MySpace, by getting so huge, can truly move the needle in terms of musical tastes," MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe told Reuters, adding that he is currently talking to four additional bands about signing to the label.
The first release on MySpace Records will be a compilation, "MySpace Records: Volume I," featuring tracks from Weezer, Fall Out Boy, AFI and Dashboard Confessional. Also featured on the compilation is Hollywood Undead, a Los Angeles-based band whose album will be the first proper release on the label, scheduled for the second quarter of 2006. "Radio has become less and less important... MySpace, by getting so huge, can truly move the needle in terms of musical tastes," MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe told Reuters, adding that he is currently talking to four additional bands about signing to the label.