MySpace Music Gets A Major Upgrade

More Video, Artist Dashboard, iTunes Purchase

MySpace Music has gotten a major upgrade with the addition of a new music video hub, an artist dashboard offering analytics and track purchase via iTunes. The new features come at a time when the parent MySpace site is losing market share to Facebook.

Music Video Hub

MySpace hopes to challenge YouTube's go-to status for music videos by creating an extensive hub for licensed video from major and indie labels and adding a social component. 

• Video recommendations based on what your friends are watching
• Browse via A-Z video search 
• New video player with dynamically targeted “Buy” buttons provided as part of Auditude’s video ad management platform
• Entire artist music video catalogues available in artist music players alongside “Albums” tab
• iLike now features MySpace’s Music Video catalogue within all partner websites

Artist Dashboard

Launched in beta, the MySpace Artist Dashboard is a free and offers a peak at  detailed analytics of an artist's content within both MySpace and iLike. Functionality includes:

• Unlimited access to charts, graphs, and snapshots of MySpace Music data
• Data includes fan geography, song plays, profile views, friend count, and profile visitors
• Trending data available for 7 day and 30 day glances
• iLike integration into MySpace Artist Dashboard provides top-level data from iLike’s partner networks
• Artist Dashboard is available in 17 languages in over 20 territories

click on image to enlarge

Additionally, MySpace Music users can now purchase and download music on iTunes in addition to Amazon MP3, and MP3 ringtones via Jamster.

MySpace Music As An Artist Services Hub?

Is it me or doesn't this sound like something Ian at Topspin, Patrick at Nimbit or Panos at Sonicbids would say? 

“Whether you're a small town garage band, an emerging indie, or a well-established act, our ultimate goal is to provide the right mix of tools and real time data to help you gain a deep understanding of who your fans are and how best to reach them,” said Courtney Holt, President of MySpace Music. “We're committed to providing the most comprehensive ecosystem of services for artists in an effort to deepen their connection with the most important influencers – their fans.”

I've watched Courtney Holt up close at places like MIDEM and the New Music Seminar just enough to believe that he means it when he says that he wants to help artists.  But will his big bad corporate bosses let him deliver?  Do they really see what Courtney appears to: music, particularly indie and d.i.y. music, is what attracts users to MySpace and keeps them there.