Trying to Stay Afloat: MySpace Acquires imeem

If you were a multi-million dollar company at the top of your industry and you suddenly dramatically fell off your high-horse, what would you be? Well, you’d probably be MySpace in this social media-crazed world that I’m not ashamed to say I am a part.

I’ll do my best to avoid filling you in on all the boring details of why MySpace lost it’s crown, but I will tell you one thing MySpace is doing to capitalize on it’s strength—music.

For $1 million in cash, as well as a few of the company assets, MySpace bought imeem; imeem was founded in 2003 and first debuted in 2005. MySpace will retain about half of the 55 imeem employees while also resolving past due debts. Imeem suffered tremendous losses due to the catatonic state the online music playing industry along with a slew of litigation filed against the company for label infringement.

We are unsure of what this really means for either party involved, but it is a notable acquisition.

For those who may not know, imeem is a social media service where users interact with each other by streaming, uploading and sharing music and music videos.

Complete with customizable and embeddable playlists, imeem was ahead of the curve when it came to online music players.

Imeem generates revenue through a combination of direct and indirect advertising sales, sales of MP3 downloads, ringtones and concert tickets, as well as subscription revenue from premium services.

Acquisitions can be deadly for both parties. On one side you have a company that has been plagued with lawsuits and losses and was willing to sell its soul to another company. On the opposite end, you have a well-known company that buys another in hopes of saving itself and increasing its own profitability.

There are quite a few ways this whole thing can play out. As someone heavily interested in the music industry, and well aware of how this tool can be used for marketing music, I can only hope for the best.

I’m not too aware of any site that is as customizable for music as imeem is, and although I don’t think this move can hurt MySpace any more than it’s hurting now, I can only hope for the sake of the users, that there are no drastic changes. Simple improvements and better marketing strategies will increase the user experience and help the website grow to it’s full potential.

Related posts:

1. MySpace & the Grammys: “It all started with MySpace”?
2. Looking Back at the Last Decade
3. Intuit Acquires Mint
4. Marketing in a Social World
5. How Apps Are Helping Print Media