It’s pretty clear that Justin Timberlake knows that a massive revamp is the way that he is going to revive Myspace, if it can be revived. Considering the strong tilt towards music that Myspace has shown in the past few years, it wasn’t too much of a surprise when Timberlake jumped on board last week. But will his star power be able to save the sinking ship?
Last week, video content and advertising company Specific Media announced their acquisition of Myspace from News Corp. It has also been reported that the price of that acquisition is $35 million. If you remember, News Corp paid just a little bit more for Myspace when they purchased it – about $550 million more. It’s safe to say that the $35 million sale was probably not what News Corp wanted.
Soon after the reports emerged about Specific Media’s acquisition, we learned that Justin Timberlake had decided to join the party. When it’s all said and done, we learned, Timberlake will be part owner in the company.
He had this to say about his vision for the future of Myspace –
There’s a need for a place where fans can go to interact with their favorite entertainers, listen to music, watch videos, share and discover cool stuff and just connect. Myspace has the potential to be that place,” says Timberlake. “Art is inspired by people and vice versa, so there’s a natural social component to entertainment. I’m excited to help revitalize Myspace by using its social media platform to bring artists and fans together in one community.
Now, according to the AP, Myspace might become something akin to the online version of American Idol or The Voice.
Timberlake’s longtime manager Johnny Wright says that “a talent show or some other way of developing new artists will be core to the revamp of Myspace.”
He goes on to say that “whether it becomes a talent competition or something like that, those are things that we will still flesh out, we definitely want to bring the industry back to Myspace to really look at the talented people that have put their faces there.”
The full vision of the new Myspace will be revealed at a press conference scheduled for August 17th.
What do you think? Could competition help the new Myspace? Let us know in the comments.