MySpace is about to begin passing out the offering plates in support of its new plan to reincarnate as a Spotify and Pandora-killer.
Business Insider reported Monday, according to leaked internal documents, that “the parent company of MySpace is trying to raise $50 million in order to re-launch MySpace as a direct competitor to Spotify and Pandora in 2013.”
The leaked documents — a 29-page investment pitch for MySpace’s parent company, Interactive Media Holdings — include optimistic projected revenue growth, from $15 million at the end of 2012 to a projected $140 million by 2015.
Since Facebook dethroned the social network in 2008, MySpace has faced an identity crisis in the midst of devastating membership losses and continued devaluation.
The company and its backers, on a mission to rise from the ashes of the company’s demise as the once-king of social networks, are looking to play to MySpace’s strengths as a music discovery site.
One slide included analytics stating that the company has rebounded to the 44th largest site on the Web — according to digital analytics firm comScore — since the launch of its new music player in December 2011.
In mid-September, co-owners Chris and Tim Vanderhook and MySpace investor Justin Timberlake used the pop icon’s star power to debut and promote a radical site redesign that caters to the musicians and artists that once called MySpace home.
CNET senior writer Greg Sandoval viewed Business Insider’s report with skepticism, however.
“All the breathless talk about MySpace becoming a Spotify killer is silly,” he wrote. “We didn’t think MySpace would bet a comeback on downloads did we?”
