How should one read into an AdAge story that MySpace is holding talks with Nylon about the launch of a magazine - you know, those old-style, paper-based publications with glossy covers. "We're in the process of modeling it," an executive involved in the discussions told AdAge. "Our main concern is the MySpace brand. We don't want to do anything that would hurt the brand." Apparently, this potential magazine would focus on the interests of popular MySpace members. Interesting idea but I was under the impression the MySpace generation has abandoned magazines, newspapers, etc., which is why advertisers are rushing to the Web to reach young consumers. People Magazine, for example, recently decided to scrap the paper version of Teen People and make it a Web-only property. MySpace's apparent interest in a magazine reminds me of the dot-com days when Business 2.0 put out issues teeming with so many ads it eventually felt compelled to go bi-weekly to meet demand (and, of course, cash in on all those free-spending dot-coms). Who knows, maybe the MySpace folks figure there is room to extend the brand and the "platform" but it seems like an odd strategic foray.
Update: If a MySpace magazine is possible, how far could the brand be extended? What about youth-oriented products such as condoms, CDs, mobile phones, video games? Peter Cashmore thinks a MySpace idea is a terrible idea because there would be distribution costs and the content would never be as diverse as the Web. Seamus McCauley, however, believes the concept is a "surprisingly subtle strategy", while Scott Karp describes the idea as an "April Fool's Joke" before pondering whether MySpace should create a tool for its member to create personalized magazines used PDF files.