Myspace lost everything uploaded before 2016, including 50 million songs

Myspace (which, like EW, is owned by Meredith Corporation) was instrumental in the 2000s music scene, helping launch the careers of such artists as Owl City, Lily Allen, Calvin Harris, and Arctic Monkeys. Users began reporting problems accessing music on the site a year ago, but the loss of the content was not confirmed until now. Myspace apparently had no backups of the content, according to The Guardian.

Tech writer Andy Baio questioned the company’s explanation on Twitter, noting, “I’m deeply skeptical this was an accident. Flagrant incompetence may be bad PR, but it still sounds better than ’we can’t be bothered with the effort and cost of migrating and hosting 50 million old MP3s.’”

Myspace launched in 2003 and became the most visited website in the U.S. in 2006. Its popularity waned following the rise of Facebook, which surpassed it as the most popular social network in 2008. The site currently ranks around number 2,000 in terms of U.S. web traffic. Still, Myspace retained a number of devoted users, many of whom used the site to follow musicians.

Representatives for Myspace have not responded to EW’s request for comment.

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