Once-leading US social network Myspace has reportedly lost all the music uploaded to its website from 2003 to 2015.
On the website’s homepage, it is currently displaying a message which apologises for the reported mishap.
In an email reportedly from Myspace, a Twitter user who had emailed the company about the lost data confirmed that a service migration had corrupted the song files forever.
The website now displays a message at the top of its music pages which reads: “As a result of a server migration project, any photos, videos, and audio files you uploaded more than three years ago may no longer be available on or from Myspace.”
Now dwarfed by competitors including Facebook, Myspace was once the world’s leading social platform, before pivoting toward music and the discovery of new artists.
With over 50 million songs from 14 million artists uploaded during the 12-year period, it is likely some of these files have been lost forever.
Artists and bands who had hoped to safely store their songs on the platform have taken to social media in hopes of recovering the files.
Tech entrepreneur and event organiser Andy Baio said on Twitter: “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’.”
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.”
— Andy Baio (@waxpancake) March 18, 2019