TechRadar informed you recently of the imminent launch of MySpace Music, with News Corp having agreed deals with Sony BMG, Warner and Universal to offer music streaming, MP3 downloads, concert tickets, ringtones, merchandise and more.
Good news for music consumers? Not everybody is convinced, with Ben Drury, Deputy Chairman of the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) and MD at online music retailer 7digital telling TechRadar:
“Initially, this looks like a positive move for consumers. Digital rights management is still a big issue for a lot of music fans and this latest announcement is further evidence that the majors are moving away from it all together. Competition to iTunes’ domination of the market is always good news, as it helps drive competitive pricing in the digital music sector.”
Poor user experience?
However, Drury is slightly sceptical of the “quality of the user experience” which he feels “may still be an issue.”
“MySpace pages are chaotic due to the levels of customisation, and could easily put consumers off the service,” he tells us.
“It will also be interesting to see how many consumers, or parents of young consumers, will be willing to hand their credit card details over to MySpace when buying music.”
Undoubtedly, we imagine that ‘ver kids’ will be able to purchase MySpace music cards in stores to circumvent this problem. We contacted MySpace for comment or confirmation on this, but none was forthcoming.
We expect a response to 7Digital’s criticism of the quality MySpace ‘user experience’ shortly, so stay tuned for updates on this story.
