Last Thursday John Battelle sat down with MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe and Warner Music Group CEO Edgar Bronfman to discuss the future of music.
Some interesting things were said, including remarks by Bronfman that Warner will only sign new artists if they agree to give the label a cut of all possible revenue streams. But the biggest story about the talk, by far, was this: MySpace may be creating a music device.
At least that’s what dozens of blogs and mainstream news outlets reporte. A sample:
- Reuters: Is MySpace dreaming of a music device?
- Reuters: MySpace could develop digital music player (Reuters liked the story so much they wrote two articles)
- The Telegraph: MySpace rival to iPod is ‘possible’, says chief executive
- About.com: MySpace MP3 Player in the Works? (“It is reportedly a distinct possibility for the future”)
- Business Journal: Report: MySpace hints at iPod competitor
The source for the stories: DeWolfe, when asked “Do you think, or as you plot…the future of MySpace…do you think there is a place where MySpace might create a device?” said only “Uh, it’s possible, right now we’re just focusing on the service itself.”
The video is below, and DeWolfe’s tone and body language suggest he was simply being polite. I contacted MySpace, wondering if big press was tipped off to read more into the statement than appears reasonable. They declined to comment.
Judge for yourself. In my opinion, there’s nothing there.