Things are looking pretty grim for Myspace since it was sold for peanuts by former owners News Corp to a consortium that included ex N’Sync star Justin Timberlake. After being relaunched as an entertainment hub around nine months ago it now appears they’ve done a 180 degree turn and they’re going to use it as a talent sourcing hub. Oh dear. JT mate, what are you doing?
According to Timberlake’s long time manager Johnny Wright, such a development is on the cards for the internet white elephant. “Whether it becomes a talent competition or something like that, those are things that we will still flesh out,” says Wright. “We definitely want to bring the industry back to Myspace to really look at the talented people that have put their faces there.”
According to Timberlake and his management, they will explain this apparently harebrained idea to media at a press conference on August 17th. According to industry sources, Myspace’s new owner, online ad network operator, Specific Media, which bought Myspace from News Corp for $35 million – mostly in stock options – has now completely jumped in to bed with Timberlake, shotgun wedding stylez.
It turns out that Timberlake’s partnership deal was only signed off 30 minutes before the purchase from News Corp was made public. Apparently the partnership with Timberlake was hatched by Nicole Winnaman, a marketing executive who has been on board with Timberlake since his `N Sync days. Watch this space for Myspace Idol – wonder if Dicko, Kyle and Marcia are looking for a new gig?
