MySpace Music Rolls Out A Sleek, More Interactive Homepage

MySpace may not be the leader in the social networking space anymore, but its free music streaming site, MySpace Music, has been growing fast. Which is why it’s not surprising that the social network is continuing to improve on this popular product. Today, it appears that MySpace Music has launched a new version of its homepage with UI redesign and several new features (we’ve confirmed with the company that that the redesign is new).

The new homepage is more visually appealing, with images of artists and bands front and center on the page and a sleek. modern interface. The site also features a “What’s Hot” section above the fold, which are the highest streamed arists’ and videos on the platform. Users can also create and share playlists on the homepage that are mixed in with artists’ playlists.

Another interactive section of the site is the karaoke section which lets MySpace Music users upload and share karaoke videos of their favorite artists. And MySpace is aggregating breaking music news, concert listings and new artists mentions into the homepage design.

All in all, the redesign is an improvement from the original homepage, which needed a bit of a makeover. Plus, MySpace has added a number of features that make the site more engaging to users. MySpace Music launched last fall, and has grown its traffic by 190%, according to Nielsen. New MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta expressed concern recently of whether users know that MySpace Music is a destination for music or not, and perhaps this redesign is a way to make the site standout more as a music destination. Earlier this year, MySpace unveiled a new executive team for MySpace Music (which is a joint-venture with some major music labels and thus an independent entity) and improved several of its features on the site. MySpace also recently acquired iLike, a social network based around music. In the announcement, Van Natta said there were no plans to introduce music streaming from MySpace Music into iLike, but te two businesses would work together to grow the event ticketing business.