[img src="" caption="" credit="" alt=""]
As the first website to offer free, full-track streaming music from all four major record labels, Imeem has quietly been able to grow into one of the most trafficked social networking sites, with nearly 28 million (self-reported) visitors per month. But now, with MySpace Music offering a similar catalog to its enormous audience, Imeem has some serious competition on its hands. Today, Imeem is launching a re-design and several new features that attempt to make the site’s content more accessible while highlighting some of its selling points versus its new rival.
Most of the changes at Imeem are all about being able to find more music, either through common features like browsing tracks by popularity, or through recommendations based on your tastes and what your friends are listening to. The new “Spotlight” page is as simple as it gets – it’s essentially a blog, letting you know about the latest Imeem content and exclusives, with celebrity playlists built in along the sidebar:
[img src="" caption="" credit="" alt=""]
Imeem’s “Discover” page is where the personalized recommendations come in. This is where the company sees a big advantage over MySpace, because as Matt Graves, Imeem’s VP of Marketing & Communications told me, those recommendations are based on “all of the data we've been obtaining [since launching] that lets us to do a much more detailed set of recommendations." As a non-logged in user, Imeem based my recommendations on what was popular in my geographic area.
Finally, Imeem has revamped its artist pages, the big selling point of which is now that users can access a playlist for each of an artist’s albums. While artist pages also include fairly standard stuff like tour dates and being able to find other users who also enjoy their music, the big difference is that unlike MySpace, most of these pages aren’t actually maintained by the musician (or at least the musician's handlers), hence, making it a bit less personal.
Although none of Imeem’s new features are especially ground-breaking, they do make the site’s music catalog much more accessible, which in turn make its existing strengths more valuable. For example, unlike MySpace Music, Imeem playlists – which support an unlimited number of songs and streams - can be embedded anywhere. Imeem claims to reach 85 million people each month through embeds, making the company’s network larger than that of widget makers Slide and RockYou, according to Graves.
Additionally, in-part through its acquisition of Snocap, Imeem allows any artist to upload their music and participate in the revenue share on advertising revenue, giving the site a more diverse catalog that incorporates more independent artists. And, when artists want to buy tracks, they can do so either through Amazon’s MP3 store or iTunes, whereas MySpace Music has an exclusive deal with Amazon.