Remember Myspace? Justin Timberlake, Chris and Tim Vanderhook sure hope so. The Vanderhook brothers joined investor JT in a $35 million buyout of the website more than a year ago, and now the time has finally come for the new site’s debut.

The new design of Myspace was revealed in Los Angeles last night, and the social networking site is barely recognizable in its new form. With a layout similar to the popular online-scrapbook website Pinterest, or Lady Gaga’s recently launched social network site Littlemonsters.com, Myspace is now tailored with an emphasis on artist integration.

Timberlake sees the updated site as a chance to truly integrate music and social media. 


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“I see this...as bridging the gap. It’s just bringing the connection that much closer while still making the artist feel comfortable that they can make their art, lock themselves in a room and torture themselves as they do, and still find a way to comfortably connect with their fan base,” said Timberlake.

As an accomplished music artist, JT seems to possess the knowledge needed to, as he says, “bridge the gap,” and bring the near-dead Myspace into a new age of success. However, the question is whether big name bands and celebrities will bother with the new platform.

The site will work as a conglomeration of many different elements borrowed from various other social media websites, such as Twitter (News - Alert) and Facebook.

An interesting offering the new Myspace has is the pairing of photos from a specific event with music, to help re-create the experience in a way.

The music doesn’t end there, Myspace now has ways to share playlists with friends, create a “top 8” type list of favorite artists, and users will even have access to all of an artist’s music via the artist’s page.

Timberlake is currently reaching out to musicians he knows personally to be used as Beta testers, specifically to try out another new feature of Myspace--promotion. Artists using the site will be able to promote their personal top artists, as well as their top fans, in their own “top 8” inspired list.

If you forget what the “top 8” is, it was a feature of the old Myspace, a list of eight of your best friends that appeared on your profile. It’s okay if you forgot, however, as that was back in the day.

Myspace came before Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook (News - Alert), Instagram, Pinterest, and all the other social media sites, so Timberlake and the Vanderhooks have both reason to worry, and reason to be hopeful. Myspace has survived the past few years primarily as a home on the Web for musicians, and the plan is to use this aspect in the rebirth of the website.

Check out the redesign for yourself to decide whether Myspace has the power to redeem its old glory and win back users who have moved on.

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