hypebot

imeem Joins Google's Open Social

OPEN SOCIAL NOW REACHES 300 MILLION

During the Google Open Social Summit today at the Googlex, imeem is announcing support for OpenSocial via their Media Platform for a third party developers. With the addition of imeem, OpenSocial now reaches a potential 300 million users via MySpace, Friendster and other social networking sites that have joined the initiative.

Developers can now port existing OpenSocial applications to imeem, the third largest social networking site in the US with over 24 million users.  They can also extend the capabilities...

Google Announces Friend Connect

Tired of inviting friends to 13 different social networks?

The walled garden around social networks continues to crumbles. Just days after MySpace and Facebook opened their profiles and platforms, Google has l aunched Friends Connect which easily adds social networking functions to any web site at no cost. Your connections then travel with you to any web site using the platform. See more from Google here. 

I'd love to see a band use these tools on their site to give fans new ways to connect. Bands could even trade or share friends.
Should I try it on Hypebot?

MySpace Goes Viral

PROFILE SHARING VIA YAHOO, TWITTER & MORE

In a move that has broad implications for how music marketers use the service, MySpace has launched a Data Availability initiative which enables users to share their public profile data on select websites.  Yahoo, Twitter, Photobucket and eBay are early adopters.

Users will have control over what information is shared and dynamically update it across other selected sites. MySpace will be rolling out a centralized location within the site that allows users to manage how their content and data is made available to third party sites they have chosen to engage with.

Content which can be shared includes publicly available basic profile information, MySpace photos, MySpaceTV videos, and friend networks. Integration of the Data Availability project will roll to MySpace users and participating Websites in the coming weeks.

MySpace Launches 1000 Outside Apps

The MySpace Application Gallery has now officially launched. Since the beta launch in March, MySpace has added more than 1,000 approved outside apps. The apps come in a variety of categories including music, politics and causes, quizzes and polls, and video and have been installed 2.1M times.    

All approved applications have their own profile page similar to MySpace user pages and the Application Gallery will be accessible to all international users in their native language.        

Developers can access the MySpace Developer Platform Site.

(press release)
   

The Social Networking Wars

A funny but true take on shaking the social networking addiction.

MySpace Music Launches Without EMI - An In Depth Look

MySpace and the three major labels, SonyBMG, Universal, and WMG today announced the formation of a joint venture, MySpace Music. EMI is not yet part of the deal and financial terms of the partnership were not disclosed.

The new company will launch with 30 million monthly visitors and 5 million artists as well as the audio and video library of three of the world's four largest label groups. Existing franchises including Secret Shows, MySpaceLIVE!, Transmissions, and The List will all still have a place on the new MySpace Music.

Imeem Grabs Rolling Stones Advance Debut

"Shine A Light", the soundtrack to Martin Scorsese’s new documentary about The Rolling Stones, is making its US debut today on imeem, a week prior to it's April 1st release on  Interscope. imeem users can hear the 16-song deluxe version of the soundtrack includingevery track from the film plus four bonus cuts - "Paint It Black", "Little T&A", "Shine A Light" and "I'm Free."

Social networks are increasingly the choice of more and more aritsts and labels for advance listening parties and debuts. WMG's R.E.M. used iLike just last week for a similar advance debut and XL Recordings cut a deal with YouTube UK for a Sigor Ros DVD release.

"Shine a Light", which opens in theaters April 4, is a look at The Rolling Stones’s live captured by Scorsese during two performances at NYC's Beacon Theatre in 2006 and includes special guests Buddy Guy, the White Stripes' Jack White and Christina Aguilera.

Bragg Wants Bebo To Pay, But $'s Are In The Data

UK singer-songwriter Billy Bragg had an op-ed piece in the Sunday New York Times that advocated for artist compensation from internet start-ups like Bebo that are making millions using music as a draw:

"The musicians who posted their work on Bebo.com are no different from investors in a start-up enterprise. Their investment is the content provided for free while the site has no liquid assets. Now that the business has reaped huge benefits, surely they deserve a dividend."

TechCrunch railed against his "crazy-stupid ideas" and I agree. Do musicians deserve a piece of the recent Clear Channel radio sale since their music drives listener-ship? Artist compensation come from BMI, ASCAP and SoundExchange as well as the music and tickets they sell because someone discovers their music.

CONTROL THE DATA AND DOLLARS WILL FOLLOW

Bragg is, however, right that artists and labels need to band together, but not to demand payments from Bebo, MySpace and others. Musicians should support only the services that offer the fair access to their fans at the lowest transaction costs. MySpace's excessive SNOCAP royalties caused artists to stayed away in droves, for example.

But artists and labels do need to demand more access to and control of the data their fans create.  Currently there is almost no independent access or method of capturing the email adresses of fans that contact artists via MySpace, for example. They also have no control over the ads that run on their pages.  Does the latest purveyor of teen angst really want swinging singles ads flashing next to their tunes?

In Music 2.0 the artist to fan relationship is #1. Control that and the money will follow. That's the lesson that made Bebo worth $850 million and its the lesson that labels and artists need to learn as well.

AOL Buys Bebo For $850 Million

Music marketers take note: AOL may not grab the headlines as the most cutting edge destination, but they have huge daily page views and today they made a move that proves their determined not to fade away.

AOL just announced that is buying social networker Bebo for $850 million in cash. Together with its AIM and ICQ personal communications network, the acquisition will give AOL a strong position in the fast growing world of social media with a network of approximately 80 million unique users.   

With a membership of 40 million worldwide, Bebo is one of the leading social networks in the UK, and is ranked number one in Ireland and New Zealand, and number three in the U.S. Its users average 78 pages per usage day.
The deal comes just one week after AOL’s launch of Open AIM 2.0, an initiative that allows the developer community greater access the AIM network and integration of AIM into its sites and applications.

Kyte Flies Straight T0 $21M. Bands Get Live Mobile Fan Clubs

Live mobile video and social networking site Kyte has grabbed an impressive $21.1 million in second round financing ed by Steamboat Ventures (Disney) and Intellect Capital Ventures.

50 Cent, Prodigy and others acts are creating channels online where they broadcast photo slide shows, videos, webcams and other content to fans who can also create their own channels. While content can be viewed online like at MySpace, etc. including via a  super widget, Kyte content is also optimized for mobile phone viewing.

"It's a quid pro quo. The fans get inside information about their favorite bands and in exchange the fans provide marketing access and critical data about themselves," said Michael Goodman, an analyst with Yankee Group told Red Herring. "It's a variation on the old fan club."