I don’t often use MySpace, as most of my “Friend Requests” are from people, places, and things that if I actually knew them, I probably wouldn’t like them. 95% of those entities include bands, and that’s part of the reason that MySpace’s recently launched music component doesn’t make sense to me and seems to be last ditch effort to keep from losing users to other, better social networking sites that suit their tastes better, whether it’s something like Facebook, SecondLife or RipLounge.
MySpace Music simply allows you to search for bands that are on MySpace. That’s it. There’s no streaming music on the homepage, there are no suggestions or filtering. Just the option to search for a band you probably already have if you like them enough to search for them. Additionally, the “alphabetical” order is a just a grouping by letter (not convenient, and solely beneficial for those bands that start with A). I could stretch to try and find something redeeming, but there isn’t really.
At the opposite end of the “social network + music” end of the spectrum is a site like RipLounge. In each 3-D room of the site you have a different genre of music streaming. Don’t like Top 40? Leave the bar and go to the Pool Deck for some Hip Hop. It’s that easy. On top of that, you’re most likely going to find something new that you haven’t heard of. As RipLounge partnered with Hit the Ground Running, they’ve committed themselves to being a platform for very solid, yet not-well-known artists.
But no matter the degree of RipLounge’s musical superiority to MySpace happens to be, it doesn’t answer the question stated above. Has MySpace jumped the shark? Yes, lyrically and figuratively.
Jackie for amp3pr.com
Share this Post