# MySpace loses all songs uploaded in its first 12 years of existence. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 19, 2019, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-loses-all-songs-uploaded-in-its-first-12-years-of-existence/831358 "2019-03-19T12:05:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-loses-all-songs-uploaded-in-its-first-12-years-of-existence/831358/1 "2019-03-19T12:05:07Z")
Yes, it still exists. But, in a server migration this weekend, MySpace is claiming every song uploaded in the first 12 years it was running is now… gone. Kaput. Vanished. Corrupted. [https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/18/us/myspace-lost-12-years-music-uploads-apology-intl-scli/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/18/us/myspace-lost-12-years-music-uploads-apology-intl-scli/index.html) > [@](#): > > Social networking company Myspace has apologized for apparently losing 12 years’ worth of music uploaded to its site, following a server migration error – a loss potentially amounting to 50 million songs. > > The Los Angeles-based company, which was once a leading music-sharing platform, announced that **content uploaded to its site from its inception in 2003 up until 2015 may no longer be accessible.** > > “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,” the company said in a statement on its website. “We apologize for the inconvenience.” This will eventually happen to YouTube as well, is my cynical guess. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-loses-all-songs-uploaded-in-its-first-12-years-of-existence/831358/2 "2019-03-19T12:19:13Z")
There’s more than a couple people who think this wasn’t an accident. The ratio of disk space to frequency of access of the old media has got to be pretty bad. It’s a cheap way to cut costs. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-loses-all-songs-uploaded-in-its-first-12-years-of-existence/831358/3 "2019-03-19T12:26:28Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Yes, it still exists. > > But, in a server migration this weekend, MySpace is claiming every song uploaded in the first 12 years it was running is now… gone. Kaput. Vanished. Corrupted. > > [https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/18/us/myspace-lost-12-years-music-uploads-apology-intl-scli/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/18/us/myspace-lost-12-years-music-uploads-apology-intl-scli/index.html) > > This will eventually happen to YouTube as well, is my cynical guess. Not just music, but all photos and videos also. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-loses-all-songs-uploaded-in-its-first-12-years-of-existence/831358/4 "2019-03-19T12:31:44Z")
It’s unbelievable that backups weren’t performed before a server migration. That just wouldn’t happen with any professional IT staff. Backups are step 1. Throughout my career my employer has migrated to several platforms in the past 25 years. We never had a data loss. It’s unthinkable. Should be doing incremental backups every day. That’s SOP. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-loses-all-songs-uploaded-in-its-first-12-years-of-existence/831358/5 "2019-03-19T12:37:38Z")
hmm…how appropriate that we have an active thread right now called [do you trust the cloud with your information?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=872542) My answer is : “NO” . ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-loses-all-songs-uploaded-in-its-first-12-years-of-existence/831358/6 "2019-03-19T12:38:40Z")
Wouldn’t people have offline – or at least redundant – backups of their material? That doesn’t help an artist’s ability to share their work at the moment, but at least the material wouldn’t be completely lost. I agree that this doesn’t sound like an accident, but what does a struggling company like MySpace have to gain by pissing off its remaining user base? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-loses-all-songs-uploaded-in-its-first-12-years-of-existence/831358/7 "2019-03-19T12:57:25Z")
MySpace has been in decline for awhile. They may have cut IT staff and underpaying the ones still there. Doesn’t take long for the most experienced to find another job. Contractors may have been called in for this migration. It might have been too complex a job for in-house staff. I’m just speculating. My own career experiences with outside contractors has been mixed. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-loses-all-songs-uploaded-in-its-first-12-years-of-existence/831358/8 "2019-03-19T13:19:55Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > hmm…how appropriate that we have an active thread right now called > [do you trust the cloud with your information?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=872542) > My answer is : “NO” . Well, that question has two questions in it. 1. Do you trust the cloud to hold your only copy of your data? If you have more than 2 neurons to rub together, the answer is NO. Which is why this MySpace event should not be a tragedy for anyone. Everyone should have their own data. 2. Do you trust the cloud to stay hands off of your data and to prevent other unauthorized users from accessing it? Well, that is a harder question to answer. See the other thread. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-loses-all-songs-uploaded-in-its-first-12-years-of-existence/831358/9 "2019-03-19T13:47:25Z")
We pay a premium price for permanent storage on the cloud. That makes a contractual difference. My Space was free with a little storage for each account. I’d bet their legal contracts essentially said we’ll try to secure your data but tough shit if we don’t. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-loses-all-songs-uploaded-in-its-first-12-years-of-existence/831358/10 "2019-03-19T13:50:42Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > There’s more than a couple people who think this wasn’t an accident. The ratio of disk space to frequency of access of the old media has got to be pretty bad. It’s a cheap way to cut costs. Cut costs for what? Who is going to want to store anything new on a site that manages to fuck this up? Or who will access the site and see ads, etc when they know it’s missing twelve years of content? ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-loses-all-songs-uploaded-in-its-first-12-years-of-existence/831358/11 "2019-03-19T14:29:22Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > There’s more than a couple people who think this wasn’t an accident. The ratio of disk space to frequency of access of the old media has got to be pretty bad. It’s a cheap way to cut costs. Why would MySpace want to make a planned deletion look like an accident? Why not just flat out tell people “we’re going to dump everything from our first twelve years on X date; you have until then to download/backup your content.” As it stands, they look like buffoons who are not to be trusted with valuable content. What’s the old expression? “Never attribute to malice anything that can be explained by stupidity.” ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-loses-all-songs-uploaded-in-its-first-12-years-of-existence/831358/12 "2019-03-19T14:32:59Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > What’s the old expression? “Never attribute to malice anything that can be explained by stupidity.” Czarcasm’s Corollary: “But never assume that one eliminates the other”. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-loses-all-songs-uploaded-in-its-first-12-years-of-existence/831358/13 "2019-03-19T14:42:14Z")
Odd - a myspace site I have bookmarked that chronicles the 80’s and 90’s music scene at my alma mater is still functioning, and it’s an old site. Photos and music files still there. Sweet! I can continue to relive my glory days. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-loses-all-songs-uploaded-in-its-first-12-years-of-existence/831358/14 "2019-03-19T14:49:29Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Not just music, but all photos and videos also. My guess is that they won’t absolutely vanish outright. What will probably happen is that if a photo/video/music file has been unaccessed in some length of time, and the owner’s account is similarly abandoned, they’ll probably clear that out eventually. But if the content is merely old and not frequently accessed, they’ll probably do one of two things- either set a deadline for deletion, and bug you to death to do something about it, or they’ll set up some kind of tiered storage scheme, where the oldest stuff will be kept offline eventually, and a request for it will initiate a restoration process, and notify the requestor once it’s completed and the file is available. Then there’s the cynic in me that says that they’ll just tweak their search engine to basically cause the old stuff to be unviewed, and then do a combination of the first two things I list above, and not even bother to have any kind of tiered scheme. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-loses-all-songs-uploaded-in-its-first-12-years-of-existence/831358/15 "2019-03-19T14:53:28Z")
> [@bump](#): > > My guess is that they won’t absolutely vanish outright. > > What will probably happen is that if a photo/video/music file has been unaccessed in some length of time, and the owner’s account is similarly abandoned, they’ll probably clear that out eventually. > > But if the content is merely old and not frequently accessed, they’ll probably do one of two things- either set a deadline for deletion, and bug you to death to do something about it, or they’ll set up some kind of tiered storage scheme, where the oldest stuff will be kept offline eventually, and a request for it will initiate a restoration process, and notify the requestor once it’s completed and the file is available. > > Then there’s the cynic in me that says that they’ll just tweak their search engine to basically cause the old stuff to be unviewed, and then do a combination of the first two things I list above, and not even bother to have any kind of tiered scheme. Read the OP: _It already happened._ ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-loses-all-songs-uploaded-in-its-first-12-years-of-existence/831358/16 "2019-03-19T15:03:28Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > It’s unbelievable that backups weren’t performed before a server migration. > > That just wouldn’t happen with any professional IT staff. Backups are step 1. This. The idea that a professional organization, whose main business is based around data storage, would not ALREADY have backups for all their data is frankly unbelievable. And that they’d start a server migration without confirming that their backups are in place and valid is even more unbelievable. I don’t understand this event at all. It’s more than just “the IT guys aren’t that good”. It’s more like “the CEO’s cousin Joe the barber has been doing all the IT because he says he’s good with computers”. This just couldn’t happen at a real company. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-loses-all-songs-uploaded-in-its-first-12-years-of-existence/831358/17 "2019-03-19T15:22:14Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > This just couldn’t happen at a real company. Yea, but hasn’t Myspace been in a death spiral for years? This is like asking for excellence from Kmart ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-loses-all-songs-uploaded-in-its-first-12-years-of-existence/831358/18 "2019-03-19T15:33:15Z")
> [@Hermitian](#): > > Yea, but hasn’t Myspace been in a death spiral for years? This is like asking for excellence from Kmart I’m shocked to find that Photobucket barely works these days! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-loses-all-songs-uploaded-in-its-first-12-years-of-existence/831358/19 "2019-03-19T15:34:15Z")
My family delivered telephone books. We had cloud backups in 2006. We made weekly tape backups of the server every Friday, kept them off-site climate controlled. Even in a death spiral, an IT company should have as much sense as people who deliver phone books. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-loses-all-songs-uploaded-in-its-first-12-years-of-existence/831358/20 "2019-03-19T17:22:26Z")
Parsing the language used, the article says “will no longer have access to,” not “we deleted.” That makes me wonder if they just changed the list of supported file types to drop an older standard or something similar. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myspace-loses-all-songs-uploaded-in-its-first-12-years-of-existence/831358.md?page=2)