Monday, May 22, 2006

Nylon + myspace.com = sell out?

From the NEW YORK TIMES
By MARIA ASPAN
Published: May 22, 2006

MySpace.com, which began as an online community for user-generated content like music and videos and quickly developed into a launching pad for new bands (among other things), has struck a deal for exclusive access to the next issue of the magazine Nylon.

Nylon, which covers music and fashion, will release a free digital version of its June-July music issue with MySpace on Wednesday. The digital issue, which will be available for downloading at the magazine's Web site (www.nylonmag.com/digital), will be identical to the print version, which will not reach newsstands until May 31.

Both versions include links to the MySpace pages of bands, artists and designers mentioned in the magazine, allowing readers to listen to featured music.

For MySpace, which the News Corporation bought last year for $580 million, the collaboration is another step in its continuing engagement with commercial outlets. The site is best known as a social networking hub, but it has other aims as well.

The idea for the collaboration with Nylon originated with Marvin Scott Jarrett, the magazine's editor in chief, who founded it with Helena Christensen, the model. In the print issue, the partnership will be reflected in text and graphics that direct the reader to pages on MySpace.

"The idea was to have everything in the issue tagged back to a MySpace account," Mr. Jarrett said. "It opens up a whole new world for magazine publishers."

This will be the first digital issue for Nylon, which intends to offer digital issues for 99 cents, as well as yearly digital subscriptions for $4.95.

MySpace has explored several corporate tie-ins recently, such as a partnership with My Network TV, a new prime-time network that will start this fall; it is also owned by the News Corporation.

"We put different opportunities and tools out there for people to express themselves, but we develop these channels based on what our users are doing," said Shawn Gold, a senior vice president at MySpace. "We are very much about empowerment of the individual." MARIA ASPAN

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