MySpace may be in deep trouble, but that isn’t stopping them from capitalizing on middle America (and Los Angeles), which still rampantly loves the site. You can now get a MySpace branded credit card and rack up points to download free music on the site.
MySpace and Citi are offering the Citi Forward/MySpace credit card. In an economy where signing up for a credit card is hardly a popular move, the card is being branded “fiscally and socially responsible,” designed to help a younger generation of users maintain healthy credit. The card lowers the purchase interest rate by a quarter of a per cent when customers use credit wisely.
The card also lets users redeem MySpace points for free song downloads, offers contests and access to shows, music concerts and other events. Card members receive 50 free music downloads after the first expenditure on the card. Users can also track their spending and learn about fiscal responsibility on a Citi Forward/MySpace page within the network. And users can accumulate additional points by participating in socially responsible acts such as using energy efficient light bulbs or volunteering (though it is unclear how this will be measured and monitored).
MySpace has the potential to make some cash from this partnership. Credit card companies pay businesses referral fees for signing up new cardholders and with MySpace’s 75-million-plus U.S. members, this could turn into a viable monetization plan if this is part of the agreement between Citi and MySpace (MySpace wouldn’t comment on the financial terms of the Citi partnership).
While MySpace might be facing increased competition and some executive departures, I think it’s a little sensationalist to say that the company is in “deep trouble”.
three of their top execs bailed yesterday and they have an unworkable corporate structure with FIM. I think it may be understating the problem.
Point taken.
But when I think of a company in deep trouble, I think of Tribune or Gannett.
MySpace is still a great online property despite the fact that some senior execs have left and Facebook is turning up the heat.
good point.
@Olson
You must be on Friendster. I’ll look you up…
http://siteanal....com/?metric=uv
Great, Myspace partnered with a credit card company to allow you to listen to free tracks on a flash mp3 player (er, “Myspace Music”).
Meanwhile…
Facebook is releasing new product features everyday, and growing by 700,000 users a day.
A decent portion of those new Facebook users are fakes and spams.
The amount of Facebook users with spammy accounts is negligible compared to MySpace.
I don’t think it’s responsible of Myspace to bait a largely young population into signing up for a credit card using free music – Unless they plan to launch a series of corresponding ads on credit management.
It’s no different than any other rewards program I suppose, but it smells a little underhanded. Maybe it’s narrow minded of me, but it seems the people who will sign up for the card to download MGMT’s latest album are prime candidates for mismanagement. The music could end up being the star in this play. It’s not a card with great rates that happens to come with rewards, it’s music also comes with a credit card. It may not be present in the ad, but you can bet the free music will come into the spotlight during this campaign.
And you can bet if they are giving away music, they are being paid for the referrals. This is exactly the demographic Citi wants, young and likely to pay lifelong interest.
credit cards? lovely. isn’t that what’s considered likely to be the next round of the banking crisis?
I think I’d prefer a Twitter branded credit card.
It’s about time that MySpace starts to fade into the sunset. The only people that use that site are perverts, pornstars, and crappy local bands… Twitter or Facebook have completely stolen MySpace’s thunder. The CEO’s of MySpace have bailed because they realized that they were in heavy competition, and that with all of their problems in regards to viruses, child predators, and their reluctance to create meaningful/productive updates for the interface….all in all it was a dying investment
Since all the pornstars, perverts and shitty local bands are on MySpace perhaps we can probably continue painting with your exceedingly broad brush and assume that only astute, altruistic, and marvelous deity-worshipers utilize Facebook and Twitter.
What a child.
Leena ,
just another credit card for my wallet wallet.
Well.. no surprise other internet giants google, microsoft or yahoo might come with one !!!!!
I think Michael is right (that myspace is in big trouble) – not in the sense of sudden death, but of a inevitable major decline. Ruperts approach to milk myspace is in line with newscorps common wisdom , but undermines the strategic value building mechanism of social networks – continuously delivering user centric innovation and improving the daily life value of its users. Instead, they are hunting down short term profits. Old Icehockey saying: it’s not about where the puck is, but where the puck will be. bye bye myspace.
I think MySpace is in decline and needs to do something fairly major to stop people from moving.
That is however the inherent problem with social networks though. Users will move, the only way to make them stay is constant change, something MySpace has walled themselves out of by letting users get too much freedom with creation of layouts..
MySpace is not dying, but it is going to see a steep decline in users. Especially in the 20+ crowd.
On the other hand. There is plenty of money to make off the 15-20 crowd if you can make them say. I would re-profile myspace to be a more tween network if I had the word.
The social network that taps into your porno-side, thinks you’re credit worthy.
I never could stand the layout of myspace pages…
The only chance of this being somewhat successful is if they allowed people to upload their own images from their MySpace accounts to be printed on their cards.
Otherwise, I’m pretty sure MySpace is on the way down the toilet.
Not sure you can say that MySpace is ‘down the toilet’ based on lack of pictures on credit cards in the offer..
I bet though that they thought of it and made a ‘classyness’ decision not to fill every bar in America with “Tile Tequila Vag’ ridden debit cards
Brilliant idea. With a 3-4% penetration (4-7% of the over 18-under-50 crowd) this could rake in 100s of M$llions for Myspace with the high payouts that are common for credit card sign-ups.
Nice. Let’s grant credit to 18 year old high school students so they can earn free ringtones at their parent’s expense. I peg the default rate at 35% after the first year.
I have to admit that this is a great opportunity for both companies. Citi can obtain cardholders that could potentially use their cards for the next 50 years, and MySpace collects the referral fees.
I think it’s a brilliant attempt to monetize the brand, sync w/ it’s online property and do a little revenue double dip: credit card fees and ad increased revenue from more traffic back to the site. MySpace’s brand is still one of the strongest online, even though I doubt it will increase significantly (EVERYONE I know thinks MySpace is played out)…but if they understand the market, that wasn’t the primary goal anyway.
Bad, Bad, Bad…. For the same reason they shouldn’t set up shop at colleges, credit card companies should not be in bed with MySpace or any other social network. We all KNOW that most of the sign-ups are headed for a lifetime of debt, easily-triggered sky high interest rates, and possibly bankruptcy…
For the same reason that cigarette companies don’t really care about people’s health, even though put out have PSA-type ads…. Credit card companies don’t give a rat’s ass about people’s financial well-being, no matter what kind of bullshit money management help they offer.
Bet hey, fuck it…. FREE MUSIC!! Where do I sign? Who cares what the consequences are! FREE MUSIC!
Its all about the CASH REGISTER of the website. If you use your website to encourage monetary transacations, you make money!!! Have a debit card account with MySpace and buy music, t-shirts, etc. directly on the site. I like this dvd, I will buy it now through MySpace, no need to go through Amazon.
i’m totally signing up for a myspace page. this sound sounds AWESOME.
The young and dumb will easily flock to this one. Wow a card with myspace on it… Cool!
It seems like such a strange focal point for Myspace’s buisiness. They perform so many other marketable, laudable functions for various industries (finding music, networking, etc.) that a credit card seems kind of a blunt way to go– they should try to capitalize on their other assets.
I don’t know if I see this being the best way for Myspace to benefit from their millions of users and countless tools for offering music and sharing music. Sure you can’t download everything song that’s on Myspace but you can download a good amount for free and without the use of a credit card. I like the access to concerts and events but I think a better idea should should replace this. Either way I still commend Myspace for their huge availability of music.
MySpace in “big trouble?” I also agree that a statement such as this is jumping the gun. Yes, top execs are out, but what else would put them in such business jeopardy? Only time will tell where MySpace is headed. I think the credit card is a stretch, but as stated before, it will have a target audience, ‘the young and the reckless.’
http://www.ezanga.com/
This credit card ad is actually quite creative. It is targeted to the youth market, and is packaged with “going green” and “music rewards” — Don’t be surprised if this actually gets kids attention, and that is big money.
So as long as it’s “big money” that makes it alright to disguise it and screw people? You’re a criminal, too.
This ad is communist on so many levels.
Myspace is having difficult times. That is true, but anybody that writes them off is out of their minds. From a music standpoint alone, Myspace has the opportunity to be huge. They just need to make some changes. There has never been a record company in history that has had access to the best up and coming bands in the entire world one click away from their A&R department, nor has any record company publicity department been able to reach hundreds of millions of people with a single banner ad. Suppose Myspace wanted to break an artist that you’ve never heard of. They could do it in a week with a single banner ad.
I share the opinion that myspace may be disgruntled but they are not out of the game. With the right moves they can be more profitable than the likes of facebook for another 5-10 years. I think that’s why some of the execs left-the creative aspects outside of building a monetization network are relatively few. Regarding this credit card, I think youth credit card debt is a massive constraint on our overall society but it will probably be effective; I don’t blame myspace. I’d be using a digital security site, something like justaskegemalto, in order to make sure it’s all safe though.