myspace...the way forward for bands???

daveyfunk · #1 02-13-2007, 01:32 PM

hey guys, this isn't a rant really but id just like to view your opinions...so here goes.

ive been searching through ALOT of these posts in the recording thread and found that most guys and gals posting their music direct you to some download site. now, this might be that im incredibly impatiant (which i am) but i cant be arsed to continually sit there and wait, for valuable seconds

, to listen to their music...dont get me wrong. i love listening to all the music posted here and love sharing mine all the same. but, the problem comes when you've waited to download and then you have the joy of listening to a few seconds of music...

ok, my point being (finally )...MYSPACE...whos with me when i say this is the best way of networking/promoting bands on the net today. its easy to set up, easy to update and you can design your own page playing tunes for the friendly people as soon as they check you out...ITS A MUST. i urge the fine people of this fine website to get a myspace and let us others enjoy the fine tunes while sitting back and browsing through their comments or checking out their great page...

whos with me? all comments for/against myspace welcome...

http://www.myspace.com/thejohnnyparrytrio

our myspace...feel free to join our friends list

Tony G · #2 02-13-2007, 01:34 PM

Personally I think myspace has turned into a valueable tool to promote bands, but I don't think it should replace a "true" website for said band.

daveyfunk · #3 02-13-2007, 01:38 PM

i agree that bands should have their own website...but think of it in percentages eg. if people search a certain band, artist etc that happens to be in your influences they'll probably end up at your page at some point. whereas only mates or people who already know of you will search your website...the answer is simple. millions of people search bands on myspace everyday and may check out your page, so start a myspace and put a link to your website.

Kronos · #4 02-13-2007, 01:48 PM

They should make something similar for just bands only. Tie it in with Pandora, so that you can have your music played for people who have certain tastes. Myspace isn't as popular as it once was (people are now happy to bash it since it was sold), so I think the opportunity for bands is starting to wane. That being said, my band has a myspace anyway.

Matt Till · #5 02-13-2007, 03:07 PM

I'll be honest, if your band doesn't have a myspace page... odds are I'm not listening. The thing that is great is your songs start streaming as soon as you get there. While that's happening, you can read the bands bio, etc all on one page.

No, it's not as good as a real website if you really want to know about a band, but if you don't have a myspace page for your band and you have recordings... I'm not going to download your music unless I'm really really interested. I can look at a myspace page for 20 seconds and make an assumption about a band... it's usually accurate.

mimaz · #6 02-13-2007, 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xgabriel

Personally I think myspace has turned into a valueable tool to promote bands, but I don't think it should replace a "true" website for said band.

We've had a "true" website for about a year now, (see sig below), but just put up a myspace page a couple of days ago. I'm amazed at the activity on it right away!

Matt Till · #7 02-13-2007, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mimaz

We've had a "true" website for about a year now, (see sig below), but just put up a myspace page a couple of days ago. I'm amazed at the activity on it right away!

Yep, it's instant. Tons of spam, but it's everywhere. Real websites don't allow such a high level of interaction with fans. A fan can email you, but what are they going to say? Emails are more formal than a comment or friends request. You can just say "Hey" without it being an email.

ntimkovich · #8 02-13-2007, 04:29 PM

yeah, you guys that aren't on myspace and want to promote your music, go sign up now. right now.

myspace is going to dominate the music market for the foreseeable future. bands are getting signed based on their myspace popularity. i booked our most recent tour almost entirely from myspace (6 shows in 10 days on the way to California!).

i think a true website is the best tool since it's tremendously more flexible, but the myspace still needs to stay up.

ntimkovich · #9 02-13-2007, 04:31 PM

oh, i forgot to mention that as soon as everyone catches on to the use of MySpace bots to add friends and send comments, it's gonna tank.

$40 will get you thousands of friends pretty much overnight, and the number of friends you have can be a big factor in getting "noticed".

Spoiled Grape · #10 02-13-2007, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kronos

They should make something similar for just bands only. Tie it in with Pandora, so that you can have your music played for people who have certain tastes. Myspace isn't as popular as it once was (people are now happy to bash it since it was sold), so I think the opportunity for bands is starting to wane. That being said, my band has a myspace anyway.

I doubt MySpace is waning. Perhaps being congested and overpopulated by bad bands.

Anyways, MySpace is more popular than ever. It used to be a very "scene" thing, as I used to remember my first profile being in the 10,000 range and seeing most of the people who traffic L.A. hotspots (it was originallly pushed in the Hollywood scene area.)

The opportunities for bands are still limitless. We've booked successful tours with MySpace, talked to promoters through MySpace, talk to our manager through MySpace, talk to club owners, promote, talk to fans, sell merchandise, sell music (snocap) etc. etc.

BTW a few months ago we stopped paying the bill for our website host. We still own the domain name, but we don't waste money on a website. We have too much traffic going to MySpace to bother trying to redirect it to a website.

brandonie · #11 02-13-2007, 04:43 PM

Well I guess this is the right time to promote my band, The Fusion Porn's Myspace

www.myspace.com/thefusionporn

daveyfunk · #12 02-13-2007, 04:43 PM

glad to see the majority are on the myspace train, personally think its the best free promotional out there for unsigned bands...also acts as a nice way to get in touch with your heroes, i know its not usually them who run their myspace but it adds a spark to the fantasy...lol.

matt...completely agree my friend. the reason i posted this thread was the fact i love listening to the music posted here but hate having to wait for it to download, which in fact adds up to a good few minutes all together...im not bashing the guys that do this, just urging them to get a myspace.

apart from the automatic stream of your own music you can start blogs about your bands, link web addresses or any other link you fancy, post gigs, the list goes on if your creative enough...we've got record interest from ours, gigs in europe and some cracking music reviews...i really cant speak the true volume of how important this is for unsigned bands

Matt Till · #13 02-14-2007, 01:16 PM

ANOTHER HUGE plus, promoting upcoming shows. We can post a bulletin advertising shows, and people usually read them. It's an instant connection with fans.

I usually don't buy into trends because they are usually pointless, but myspace is genius. Denying the draw of myspace will only hurt your band.

supermonkey · #14 02-14-2007, 03:03 PM

I have to agree that, for better or for worse, MySpace is pretty much de rigeur for any musician/band these days.

But I disagree that the use of bots, etc. will kill it. It's pretty obvious when some random band has >10000 friends and/or >100000 plays and you don't recognize them at all that they are gaming the system.

It's been absolutely critical for us, since we have yet to get photos taken, or assemble a legit press kit....

jamesblue · #15 02-14-2007, 04:41 PM

I read a book called The Future of Music and has a good prediction that the way money will be made on music in the future will be the service and live performances (Pod Casts count as live).
Service can be many things, links on myspace, top 10/20/100 lists by anyone from billboard to a myspace site. The challenge will be for how to collect and earn cash.
MySpace is a good start into this realm.

::::BASSIST:::: · #16 02-15-2007, 11:39 PM

Thanks to the original poster (Dave!). I read this thread and got set about immediately to get a myspace website for the Rockabilly band I'm in.

Feel free to add yourself to our friends list. We only have 3 and one is Tom and the other is spam.

http://myspace.com/dickcashrockabilly

#17 02-15-2007, 11:52 PM

I'm definately a supporter of Myspace in terms of finding new music. Let's face it, I'm in college, a musician, and at one time was training to be a pilot. Those three leave a bloke a little broke, and though I try to keep an open ear, I definately don't have money to waste buying CD's just to sample tracks and throw it out the next day. Also, it's a way for bands and musicians to network and support each other. Though I've made at least one enemy on Myspace, I have to say that the general Myspace community is there when you need it.

Anyways, here's for yet another underhanded spam tactic to support my new project.

http://www.myspace.com/doominquisitor

opivy3056 · #18 02-16-2007, 12:17 AM

I like the idea of myspace. But I hate "myspace" bands. You know exactly what im talking about.

The ones with 20,000 friends and a sweet layout and hundreds of comments per day and shows out the wazoo.....but their music is completely unoriginal and they're undeserving of the credit they get.

I love it for finding good music to listen to, and Im not going to make any comments on my own band (I feel like we dont always take advantage of useful resources like myspace).

The music industry has grown to the saddest industry of all. Where virtual friends and computer skills can outweigh talent and determination.

I would be happy if myspace phased out. But I know that wont happen. So what are we left to do? Pay someone a chunk of money to make us an artsy layout? Lay awake at night damning ourselves for not getting better quality recordings?

It all seems a little too complicated. Myspace seemingly ended the era of bands that were "discovered"....and started something I cant even begin to comprehend.

Bottom line, yeah...we have one...but i'm not sure how good it is yet. Not trying to be cynical, just not quite sure what to think.

daveyfunk · #19 02-16-2007, 08:04 AM

james...that sound promising

the download thing is really seting the charts on fire at the mo, for better or worse i dont know, but it definately puts unsigned bands in with a chance. and myspace will become a great contributor to this, as it grows...

vegan...glad to see the thread inspired you

good luck with the space, ive sent a friend request (johnny parry trio)

as to all the more negative posts, thanks for your contribution as well. i want this thread to show people opinions, good or bad about myspace and i think the guys around talkbass will all have a view on it

opivy...dont feel to negative about the high friends list with some bands. just coz they have high lists doesnt mean their cheating the system (allthough some might). a mates band has thousands of friends on their space, but they gig alsmost every other day and so play infront of new people continually who add to their space...more to the point, one of my mates has 1000+ friends on his spce (mostly girls, lucky swine lol) and genuinely close friends who he tries to stay in contact with. dont dismiss a band just coz of their high friends list...

also, sorry for the shameless plug, but if anyone interested please read the daily vault review on our page blog...im very excited about it and would love to share with you guys

opivy3056 · #20 02-16-2007, 10:47 AM

I'm not so much angry at the means by which they attain their friends...just the fact that they have them.

I cant tell you how many bands I've found that list their genre as "pop punk" and sound/play/sing all the same. But since they sound vaguely like a radio-friendly band, everyone adds them and says "omfg u guyz are amazzzzzing"

On the other hand, I'm really inspired by good bands that have lots of friends, it seems more logical.

Good bands I found on myspace: Sigur Ros, Mew, Portugal. The Man, Casket Salesmen, Morning for the Masses, Minus the Bear, Circa Survive, The Dear Hunter, ect.

Theyre all pretty good at using myspace to their advantage.