Why Myspace Still Matters

"Welcome to the neighborhood," says the message that greets visitors when they land on Myspace's homepage.

The former social media giant launched its new mobile app earlier this month, after a period of tweaking its site and perhaps realizing its purpose. While once the top dog in the game, this king isn't necessarily coming back for the throne. And those behind Myspace's resurrection are totally OK with that.

"We're not the one billion served," says Joseph Patel, the new Vice President of Creative and Editorial, speaking with Variance after the iOS app launch. "That's OK, though. We're not the place for your mom or to connect with high school friends … It's a place for creatives—that's the goal. And, honestly, I don't think there's any shame in having even half of Facebook's traffic."

Although the Myspace brass certainly wouldn't complain about having hundreds of millions of users, the plan right now is to make to up lost ground. "We have a challenge ahead of us," Patel, former Supervising Producer for Vice Media, acknowledges. "Getting people back to the site or taking a look at it for the first time isn't going to be the easiest thing. But despite what some people say, no one has really filled the void. I think we understand that Myspace simply lost its focus back in the day."

Even years after Facebook entered the picture, Myspace was still a reliable hub for musicians and their fans. This time around, the social pioneer is once again counting on that same niche group to revive the site—with a few changes, of course. The company hopes to become "the place for creatives," a central location for singers, songwriters, DJs, photographers, filmmakers and the like.

"The younger generation, and people in their 20s, I think they consider themselves creatives," says Patel. "The ability to create beats and all sorts of art is easier than its ever been. All you need today is a phone and you can take pictures, cool videos. I think people think of themselves as creatives just by having a phone in their pocket."

After its time in the social media wilderness, critics have been quick to write off Myspace 2.0's chances of success. But perhaps the site is making its comeback at precisely the right moment. The same users who abandoned Myspace for Facebook are now increasingly fatigued by the latter. Instagram, Vine and countless others are battling for the photo- and video-shaped holes in our hearts. And despite purchasing—and subsequently shutting down—the beloved We Are Hunted music discovery site, Twitter's Music efforts haven't lived up to the hype. Then there's the music streaming side: Spotify vs. Pandora vs. iRadio vs. Rdio vs. Google Play Music.

Enter Myspace. With a sleek and sexy redesign (courtesy of We Are Hunted's designers from Australia) and mammoth funding and support from the likes of Justin Timberlake, Myspace offers itself as an alternative for those savvy, creative, hipster types. Basically, let the masses keep fighting it out in the jungle while artists and their fans find refuge in the Myspace haven.

While Myspace doesn't specifically consider itself to be in the music streaming race, music selection is definitely one of the perks to the new site, according to Patel. "Pandora has spent a lot of money and research into creating an algorithm that predicts what people might like, but I like knowing what my friends are listening to," he explains. "For example, Scott Vener, he curated the music for Entourage. I can stream "Scott Vener Radio"—the songs he likes and shares—from my phone. Someone can listen to the Joseph Patel radio station."

Yes, shiny features are aplenty throughout Myspace. Yes, a buzz worthy roster of acts like Pharrell, Sky Ferreira, Mac Miller, Chance the Rapper, Charli XCX, Zedd, Ryan Hemsworth, Miley Cyrus and others have been involved in marketing the relaunch. Yes, critics will likely continue to ride Myspace pretty hard because it's in vogue to do so. But at the end of the day, Myspace isn't after the whole city (à la the over-bloated Facebook). They're just looking to take back the neighborhood.