MySpace Replaces All iMeem Playlists With Ads -- Doesn't Ask Permission

from the is-that-legal? dept

Tue, Jan 5th 2010 10:22am — Mike Masnick

With MySpace buying up some of iMeem's assets (and leaving many musicians with little hope of getting paid what they're owed), one of the big complaints was that all of iMeem's public playlists simply disappeared overnight. This was particularly obnoxious, because plenty of people had relied on iMeem for legal music streaming of playlists they had put together. It appears that last week MySpace decided to add insult to injury and quietly started replacing all iMeem playlists with giant ads. I just checked the one iMeem playlist I had created on a different blog, and, sure enough, in its place was a giant flash ad for Beyonce ringtones.

This should be a warning for anyone using any third party widget maker for placing content on your site. You're basically giving others control over what they display on your site, but it's particularly obnoxious to replace something like a music playlist with an advertisement. Many sites that included iMeem playlists were non-commercial, and sneaking ads into them could potentially impact other issues. As we were recently discussing, Vimeo says that you can't post its videos to sites with ads (even though it seems to ignore most people who do). But what if you had Vimeo videos on a site that also had an iMeem playlist? Suddenly that site has "gone commercial" with ads, even though the owner of the site might not even realize it.

As many people are claiming that streaming services like Spotify and the now-Apple-owned Lala are "the future of music," including their ability to post streamable playlists, it's worth remembering what happened in this instance. It's certainly making me think twice about ever using a third party app for streaming content, knowing that they might just replace it with an ad down the road.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: ads, embedded music, music streaming, playlists, third party apps
Companies: imeem, myspace

21 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

:Lobo Santo (profile), 5 Jan 2010 @ 10:33am

Hows it go...
There's always free cheddar in a mousetrap...?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- E. Erfitna, 5 Jan 2010 @ 11:39am
  
  Re: Hows it go...
  Ah ... a great argument AGAINST free. If it is free you don't control it. If you pay for it ... it is yours and no one can change it with out your consent.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 5 Jan 2010 @ 11:43am
    
    Re: Re: Hows it go...
    Unless you're paying to rent something with DRM.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - cc, 5 Jan 2010 @ 11:51am
    
    Re: Re: Hows it go...
    No, if it's "free" and cloud-based you don't control it.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Jon B., 5 Jan 2010 @ 1:23pm
    
    Re: Re: Hows it go...
    Cost and control are mutually exclusive. You can pay for things you have no control over, and you can total control for free.
    
    I'm not sure if you were being sarcastic.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 5 Jan 2010 @ 10:47am

And you have just defined the major negative of Cloud Computing.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Alan Gerow (profile), 5 Jan 2010 @ 11:30am
  
  Re:
  I call "buzz word" foul.
  
  It's actually an issue with third-party cross-site content sharing. It has almost nothing to do with "Cloud Computing". A complete misuse of buzz words.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - cc, 5 Jan 2010 @ 11:56am
    
    Re: Re:
    That's part of what actual "cloud computing" is. The buzz word itself is just something a marketing dep't came up with, so we can't be too precise in its usage.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Andrew F (profile), 5 Jan 2010 @ 11:21am

"Gone Commercial"
I'm pretty sure Vimeo isn't going to sue anyone who has a third-party ad on their site -- it's not very different from posting the video on Facebook or some other ad-supported site.

IMHO, someone like Google / AdSense would probably have a bigger problem with this because MySpace's ads are now directly competing with Google's ads on the same page.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
tracker1 (profile), 5 Jan 2010 @ 12:07pm

I smell a class action lawsuit
MySpace/iMeem is now placing ads on peoples sites without paying those sites for said placement. If I give permission to put a campaign poster on my lawn, that doesn't give them permission to later replace the poster with a large commercial billboard.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- papapump (profile), 5 Jan 2010 @ 12:39pm
  
  Re: I smell a class action lawsuit
  good comparison, but i have a feeling there was a TOS agreement somewhere that gives imeem ful control over the little portion of one's website they're embedded in. it's probably more like you signed a contract with the politician giving him control over a little patch of your lawn. in that case, he could put a little billboard there. of course, no one would sign that contract. in the world of virtual property and conceptual contracts, it's all to easy to just click "yes" routinely without reading into the agreement.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Andrew F (profile), 5 Jan 2010 @ 1:58pm
    
    Re: Re: I smell a class action lawsuit
    If MySpace putting ads on your site without permission caused you actual harm, a sympathetic court might find that the TOS was unconscionable.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Jon B., 5 Jan 2010 @ 1:26pm
  
  Re: I smell a class action lawsuit
  Bad analogy. This isn't a campaign poster. This is a big screen TV in your lawn hooked up to a camera pointed at campaign headquarters, and the campaign just lost their lease on the space and an adult video store just moved in while that big TV in your lawn is still playing the live feed...
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
papapump (profile), 5 Jan 2010 @ 12:34pm

rented music
ahhh, how i long for the good old days. i love my cds, and in the future, i will be buying vinyl too, goin' waaaay back. once it's in my hands, they're not getting it back.

i worry that the gen-z-ers will just come to expect this behavior from their media overlords, just as my generation had to come to terms with seeing nothing but "the real world" on mtv. the real young ones won't even know what hit 'em, because they won't know any better.

even if it's free, once it's mine, you can't have it (or even buy it) back. people have given me cds too, but the record companies can't delete them just because i didn't purchase license any more.

the cloud has it's benefits, everyone is beginning to see this, but i think it's still a good idea to have a backup plan (physical media). convenience-vs-conviction, it's slighly analogous the the "freedom-vs-security" comprimise.

the only solution is to host your own content, but that's not so easy. i guess "you get what you pay for" holds true here.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
R. Miles (profile), 5 Jan 2010 @ 12:52pm

Huh?
People still use MySpace?

Good grief.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
thornintheside, 5 Jan 2010 @ 12:56pm

Myspace is over
myspace had its time and glory, but those days are long gone. They are now simply trying to protect their revenue stream and moves like this will have more people leaving. Adios myspace, your time has past.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Overcast (profile), 5 Jan 2010 @ 1:03pm

They are now simply trying to protect their revenue stream and moves like this will have more people leaving.

Yeah - but oddly, I can't see how chasing off customers = more revenue..

Maybe it's just me..
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
bob, 5 Jan 2010 @ 1:16pm

Browser
I use a web browser that blocks ads and flash, the flash I can see if I click on it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Sean, 5 Jan 2010 @ 2:09pm
  
  Re: Browser
  Wow bob that's very informative. I am wearing sweat pants.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
The Anti-Mike (profile), 5 Jan 2010 @ 2:42pm

Internet rule #1, don't put stuff on your website that you don't control.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 5 Jan 2010 @ 10:51pm

thank you for your comment in reguards to imeen.. how dissappointing..
[ link to this | view in chronology ]