MySpace has stamped its name on a new Citi Credit Card, in which users can earn rewards redeemable through MySpace such as free music downloads, concerts, movie premiere screenings, etc.
The announcement has not been met with a tremendous amount of enthusiasm however. For example, Marshall Kirkpatrick at ReadWriteWeb says, “MySpace is a lot of things, and despite Facebook’s formidable attack it remains wildly popular, but an institution of trust and responsibility MySpace is not!”
From the purely financial standpoint as well, the card has had some shortcomings pointed out already. “Noticeably absent from the manifesto is a call to pay off your balance every month, which you’d better do since the card has a starting APR of 14.24% which is high even for a student with limited credit history,” explains Josh Smith at Walletpop. “As a comparison, the same Citi FORWARD card without a MySpace logo carries an APR of 12.24% which is still high but a full 2% less than that of the MySpace card.”
To be fair, the move isn’t being poorly received by everyone. “This is a no-brainer for MySpace, as all they really need to do is supply their brand and collect referral fees from Citi,” says Mashable’s Adam Ostrow who notes that MySpace continues to “run laps” around its competitors in terms of monetization.
Furthermore, the rewards program might provide a little extra spark to MySpace Music, which the social network launched in the later part of last year.
Citi spins the MySpace branding of the card as highlighting social responsibility since you can earn points for “completing socially responsible acts” like donating to food drives, going paperless, switching to energy efficient light bulbs, etc. More details can be found at the card’s official site and its MySpace profile.
