MySpace buries Imeem
Here's an interesting study in contrasts. When MySpace acquired iLike back in August, MySpace left the site mostly intact. The iLike home page is still there, you can still add iLike's music-finding and sharing application to your Facebook page …
Context & Ripple Effects
Imeem's September $6 million funding round was pitched as a clean slate for the streaming-music service; less than three months later MySpace has bought it and shut it down outright. The contrast with August's iLike deal is the point of this story — there MySpace left the site running, kept the home page live, and let iLike's app keep spreading across Facebook, where it has been a fixture since users voted it onto the platform in 2007.
Syndicated coverage from ReadWriteWeb adds the part users won't see directly: Imeem's API powers streaming music apps on other sites, so the shutdown kills off an entire layer of third-party integrations, while MySpace itself frames the move as 'Imeem becomes part of MySpace Music.' A rumored Facebook Connect integration across MySpace next year suggests the company is repositioning around identity and distribution rather than standalone services.
First-order effects
- Imeem users lose their playlists and streaming access immediately, and every third-party site running a music player on iMeem's API goes dark with it.
- MySpace Music absorbs Imeem's catalog and audience, consolidating licensed streaming under MySpace's label-backed service rather than an independent competitor.
Second-order effects
- Imeem's investors and staff see the $6 million lifeline converted into an acqui-bury rather than a relaunch, reinforcing that late-stage independent music services have few exits besides the big platforms.
- Rival playlist and streaming services inherit displaced Imeem users hunting for a new home, a short window where alternatives like Last.fm-style players can capture migrating listening habits.
Third-order effects
- The iLike-versus-Imeem split sets a template for how large social platforms treat acquisitions: features get folded in or brands get buried based on strategic fit, pushing digital music toward consolidation around a handful of platform owners.
- If MySpace pairs absorbed catalog assets with the rumored Facebook Connect integration, the battleground shifts from who owns a music service to who controls the identity and social graph through which music is shared.
The trend: Social-network acquisitions of music startups are splitting between feature absorption and outright burial, concentrating streaming music inside a few large platforms.