Murdoch launches Myspace in India

The world's most popular social networking site, MySpace -- owned by News Corporation which is run by media tycoon Rupert Murdoch -- was officially launched in India today.

The site, christened MySpace India, is planning to offer music through its partnerships with SaReGaMa -- the well-known music label owned by the RPG group. MySpace's Chief Operating Officer, Amit Kapur, said: "We are producing a series of albums in association with SaReGaMa for both national and international audiences."

The site will organise a group of 30 aspiring bands from across three cities for the initiative. MySpace India industry alliances including a partnership with India's largest television network Star TV.

MySpace India, which is trying to position itself as an entertainment site too, is a part of the company's rapid expansion which includes a network of 29 international territories.

MySpace's Managing Director (International), Travis Katz, said: "We will be providing the people of India the tools they need to live their lives online and empower them with a launch pad for Indian creators from developers, to musicians to filmmakers, to showcase their talents on the global stage."

MySpace India, said Katz, will deliver content through a range of industry partnerships and product innovations including an alliance with Star TV, India's largest television network, to create an original network television program "Campus Star" featured on Channel V. "The new show, currently airing on television in India, is a nationwide college talent competition featuring celebrity judges and the voting MySpace audience," he said.

In the US, MySpace -- which has around 110 million users -- had recently announced plans for a new online music download service, pitting it directly against Apple iTunes and raising the stakes on the digital media battlefront.

The venture, called MySpace Music, offers free streaming music, MP3 downloads, concert tickets, mobile phone ringtones and band merchandise. MySpace along with music labels like Universal Music, Sony BMG and Warner Music Group have their music catalogs available on MySpace Music. Kapur is not ruling out a similar tie-up for the India market, "We think it will be easy to replicate the partnerships for Indian audiences where the market is much larger for such multimedia content."


MySpace will encourage Indian developers to work with the company in order to develop customized applications for the social networking portal. "MySpace Developer Platform team will be on-site in Bangalore soon to welcome local developers onto the open MySpace platform," revealed Kapur.

MySpace, he insisted, is committed to working with local developers across India and build build local applications for the site's more than 250 million registers users worldwide. To date, MySpace has hosted local "devJAM" developer workshops in Beijing, Tokyo, Seoul, Sydney, London, Berlin, Seattle, Stockholm, and San Francisco.