MySpace’s Branding Ineptitude Results In Another Casualty

Tucson electropoppers …Music Video? recently had their MySpace URL recalled by the service–not because it was overly raunchy, but because the site wanted it for itself. See, when the band snagged myspace.com/musicvideo the site didn’t foresee a future in which it would want that bit of easy branding for its own music-video ventures–but it came to that realization recently, and as a result “requested” that the band go hunting for a new shortened link to its music. Of course, the allegedly music-forward MySpace didn’t take into consideration that its URLs are a crucial part of many bands’ marketing strategies, and that this land grab would result in the URL that …Music Video? had been giving out to fans and members of the press (including NPR) redirecting to MySpace’s own video hub. (Which, it should be noted, has a “sexy bikini hottie” as its main attraction.) You’d think that MySpace’s pitch to be the ultimate site for music info on the web wouldn’t result in flare-ups like this one, but given MySpace Music’s clumsy launch and overall crappiness, I guess we shouldn’t be too surprised. […Music Video?’s new MySpace page]