"MySpace is going to be the future of music, not record labels." - Inspired by Rupert Murdoch

Writes Fast Company writer Ellen McGirt in this month's cover story on MySpace: " As Michael Nash, EVP of digital strategy and business development for Warner Music, puts it, 'Unlocking the social value in the context of an online community is one of our most important priorities.' Nash, who is on the board of the new venture, worked with MySpace in its pre-Murdoch days, developing promotions with acts including REM. 'About 20% to 30% of total traffic on MySpace is music traffic,' he says. 'We saw that lightning in a bottle, the social interaction around music and fans.'"

For Nash, the MySpace deal may be just the thing to save the music industry from destruction, at least for a while. 'The traditional music model has really already sort of expired,' he admits. 'We were seeing tremendous value in our content, but not a lot of revenue being developed.' The dream: As users begin to organize music they like into streaming playlists that can be shared with friends (and that other users can vote up, Digg-style, or subscribe to), the computer becomes a community-generated radio. Supported by advertising. And with the already existing MySpace swirl around celebrities and events, the industry envisions hordes of fans flocking to concerts, which are much easier to profit from. 'We needed a completely different business model to unlock that value,' Nash says."