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"Bebo, the biggest social network in the UK and one of the largest in the world, has just launched Bebo Bands.  Bebo claims they've signed up more than 25,000 groups and artists for the new section, and bands can upload an unlimited number of tracks - that's in contrast to MySpace, where you're limited to 4.  Bebo has also signed deals with record labels to supply music and other content.\nAs you'd expect, each band has its own customizable profile at a clean URL (bandname.bebo.com).  Artists can add songs, tour dates and photos to their page, and each band member can set up a separate personal profile.  As a user, you can \"Become a Groupie\" (adding a band to your friends list) and set up a playlist of your favorite songs.  This playlist appears in a new section on your profile page, and Bebo aggregates all this data to create a site-wide \"playlist chart\".  The bands are already skewing heavily towards the UK scene - that's sure to increase Bebo's dominance of the UK market, but I wonder if it might put off users from other countries.  \nIt goes without saying that the new features are easier to use than their equivalents over at MySpace, but there's also nothing new here - Bebo Bands is a perfect clone of MySpace Music.  In fact, it's pretty clear that all the networks are scrambling to add music to their offerings- hi5 has a music section that's currently in beta, and Facebook is giving away free iTunes tracks starting this week.  \nBebo is now being widely reported as the UK's leading social network, ranking above MySpace, Piczo, MSN Spaces (soon to be Windows Live Spaces), YouTube and other big players according to Nielsen//NetRatings.  The site has 25 million users and also ranks as one of the top 10 networks in the US.  In many ways, Bebo is superior to MySpace - it looks good, it's easy to use, and it has a more intuitive interface.  However, it's also more limiting: you can add a new skin to your profile page, but it lacks the radical customization that's available on sites like MySpace and Tagworld.\nAll in all, it's a predictable offering that almost takes Bebo up to par with MySpace.\nSee also: UK Social Networks.\n\nDon't Be a Stranger!\nMashable's Bebo account is at mashable.bebo.com - if you're a Bebo user, feel free to add Mashable to your friends list.\n\n\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2006/07/28/bebo-bands-launches-takes-on-myspace-music/>