MySpace admits to losing 12 years of music downloads

MySpace, one of the first online social networks, is excused after migrating from a server that has resulted in huge data loss.

A message on its website indicates that "all photos, videos and audio files" downloaded more than three years ago may no longer be available.

Several months ago, people complained that links to music were no longer working.

The platform has lost its popularity since its inception in 2003, but it has attracted millions of users to its peak.

In 2006, it was the most visited site in the United States – beating Google.

It was a popular platform for sharing new music, which helped launch the careers of artists such as Arctic Monkeys and Kate Nash.

"Following a server migration project, the photos, videos, and audio files that you downloaded more than three years ago may not be available on or from MySpace," the office said in a statement.

"We apologize for the inconvenience."

It also contained the e-mail address of its manager, Jana Jentzsch, data protection officer.

The BBC contacted Dr. Jentzsch for comments.

Andy Baio, who helped build the crowdfunding site Kickstarter, tweeted that the loss could reach some 50 million pieces of 14 million artists over this period.

He also asked if the loss was accidental.

"Blatant incompetence may be a public relations problem, but it always sounds better than" we can not be bothered by the efforts and costs involved in migrating and hosting 50 million old MP3s "." he wrote.

MySpace was purchased by NewsCorp in 2005 for $ 580 million (£ 437 million). It was sold in 2011 for $ 35 million to a company targeting an advertisement, Specific Media.

Although he is no longer a major player in the field of social media, some people using it at its peak still use it as an archive.