Myspace Confirms Loss Of 50 Million Songs Uploaded Between 2003 And 2015
Although it’s now a relic from a different era, MySpace was once the king of all social networks and a launchpad for countless musical projects including Arctic Monkeys and Lily Allen. Less than a decade ago, it was still common practice for an artist to release a lead single or premiere a new album on the platform. And although it’s taken a steep nosedive this decade with the rise of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Snapchat, Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple Music, LinkedIn, TikTok, et al, as of 2014, the company claimed to house 53 million songs on 14.2 million music accounts.
Most of that music is gone now. As Brooklyn Vegan points out, Myspace (which now uses a lowercase “s,” for shame) has confirmed it is no longer hosting more than 50 million songs uploaded between 2003 and 2015. Last year, in a thread on r/techsupport pointing out that the Myspace player no longer functioned, a Reddit user posted an email response from Myspace stating, “Due to a server migration files were corrupted and unable to be transferred to our updated site. There is no way to recover the lost data.” Now, after a tweet from former Kickstarter CTO Andy Baio brought the matter to broader attention, Myspace has released a statement further confirming the music’s deletion:
As a result of a server migration project, any photos, videos, and audio files you uploaded more than three years ago may no longer be available on or from Myspace. We apologize for the inconvenience and suggest that you retain your back up copies. If you would like more information, please contact our Data Protection Officer, Dr. Jana Jentzsch at DPO@myspace.com.
The lesson: Back up your files! Whatever cloud they’re floating around in might dissipate someday.