Irvine-based digital media agency Specific Media LLC launched Myspace Music Player, a new feature that lets users listen to songs for free via its recently acquired Myspace social networking website. Myspace Music Player is the first significant bid to bolster Myspace and boost its traffic since Specific Media’s announced a deal to acquire Beverly Hills-based Myspace LLC in June.
Myspace Music Player is an online library that holds 42 million songs. Users get free access and do not have to listen to advertisements. The company has not set any limits on use. The new feature also is tied in with Facebook. Users of Myspace Music Player can share selections with Facebook friends.
Myspace inked licensing agreements with Sony, Universal, EMI and Warner in addition to deals with thousands of independent record labels to amass the music library's inventory. Specific acquired Myspace from New York-based News Corp. for $35 million.
News Corp. had paid $580 million for Myspace during the site's peak in 2005. Myspace soon saw users leave for Facebook and other social networking sites. Specific has made few announcements on the site's progress since the acquisition.
A media event outlining the company's plans for Myspace was originally planned for the summer, but never occurred. Specific executives did participate in an advertising conference in the fall where they provided some details about changes to the site and advertising opportunities to a select group of marketers.