Is Myspace becoming irrelevant for artists?

[Benjamin Strange]

It seems to me that Myspace is slowly becoming completely irrelevant, especially for artists. EVERY band has a Myspace page, but it seems like nobody really cares. The only friend requests I get are from other bands - not fans, even though I play in a major label band. Worse - Myspace has such a clunky interface, which prevents me from wanting to bother updating it at all. I'm ready to just delete my account and just stick with my own website, which is infinitely easier for me to deal with.

Is it just me? Is my disgust with how Myspace operates clouding my judgement, or are people actually still using the thing to discover new artists? I feel like the era of Myspace being THE thing for artists is coming to a close. Thoughts?

[J. Crawford]

I havent been on my MySpace for about a month, but Im on FaceBook daily now.

MySpace is a dying breed, locally at least.

[standupright]

i've never used myspace to discover new music / artists.

[Pearldiver]

Myspace and people use Myspace are pretty fickle. For every band who got noticed through myspace (Job For a Cowboy, Etc) I shudder to think how many other bands setup accounts and then do nothing. Even some active bands pages are abandoned now. You aren't alone in your thinking.

To paraphrase Tim Millar from Protest The Hero, "Rupert Murdoch owns Myspace, we own protestthehero.net. Guess which we'll be focusing on"

[WarriorJoe7]

what's myspace?

[thumpybumper]

Nope, it's not just you. And it's not just bands leaving MySpace, either...

[pasta4lnch]

myspace got too big. it's over done and over exploited. bummer really, it was a cool tool.

fwiw I still use it as my resume. (see sig )

[StyleOverShow]

I regularly post to both: bands; and individually.

The whole social network thing is great for blasting out invites to shows.

They seem pretty inane to me, but gotta go fishing where there are fish...

[Rattman]

What is "MySpace?" I never spend ANY time on it. And I sure don't use it to check out any bands either. Maybe the OP should indeed try another venue for band exposure needs.

[adamrobertt]

Originally Posted by Rattman

What is "MySpace?" I never spend ANY time on it. And I sure don't use it to check out any bands either. Maybe the OP should indeed try another venue for band exposure needs.

Haha. This mindset amuses me.

"I don't know what you're talking about, so you must be wrong about something!" :smugface:

[rosstanium]

it still has a value because a ton of people are on it. it benefits artists and bands to be on as many places as possible for increased exposure.

artistdata.com is an easier way to manage multiple accounts. you should check it out if you aren't hip to it.

[rabassaf]

eras come and goes. it was like this allways. there is no true honest explanation for that..
myspace is still a well known platform where one could send people to listen to his music, and it still applies to people because of that. for networking and stuff, it is less relevant.

[gus1894]

Myspace is no longer my space.

I haven't gone on in about 2 months, and for the previous 7 or 8 months, I would typically check in every few weeks just in case somebody was looking for me. The part where the only friend requests you get anymore are other bands is so true - other bands and people who are small time booking agents - apparently.

Problem with Myspace is that there are no real controls on what you can say or post, and the "community" has no moral compass. It seems, for lack of better terms... "dirty" or "rode hard and put away wet". It is going the way of the landline telephone.

I use Facebook these days, most bands or individuals I interact with outside of TB or standard email are on Facebook. To me it's the grown-up version of Myspace..

But then, while Myspace and Facebook may or may not be viable promotional tools for bands and musicians; I've always thought that not having an actual website showed lack of commitment to a band or project - just my personal opinion, mind you.

[bongomania]

I have always hated Myspace, from day one (yes I was there) through its peak, into today. The majority of pages are so laden with graphics and soundfiles that they take forever to load, and 9 times out of 10 the person who "designed" the page had no freaking clue what they were doing, so each page --once you've let it load for a couple minutes-- is just an ugly mess. Whenever I click on a link that turns out to be a Myspace link, I hit the back button as fast as I can. Whenever I want to read more about a band, artist, or pedal/gear builder, and all they have is a Myspace page, their music or products are just dead to me. I will not take them seriously if that is the best they can do.

Sure, bands should try to get as much exposure as possible, but they should not hang their hat on just that one site, as it is garbage IMO.

[boomtisk]

I always thought Myspace was alright if you wanted a place to have people download samples of your music for free and never really cared for the whole networking thing, to be honest. Now don't laugh but: will Facebook let you do the same thing, i. e. set up a rudimentary band page that allows you to put up a couple of tracks? I've never really dabbled with it because it rubs the privacy freak in me the wrong way.

[heavyfunkmachin]

don't ditch myspace yet, something else is comming, but i not quite here yet.

I work in a major label and i can tell you for suer, A&R people still use myspace friends (the number, actually) as a clue before signing someone...

[Baskesman]

I never cared for myspace either until I got in my current band. The singer had introduced a myspace, which looks ugly as myspace pages usually do...
But hey this way we can torture you with our rehearsal recordings.

[basste]

Myspace is a great tool for individuals like me, which want just set up a little website without have to be a Jedi in website making; let a couple of tracks on it to share, and use it like a kind of musical resume. Very easy to use, and free.
Perhaps it is no more the "hype", but it is at least very usable

[Ground Pounder]

Originally Posted by heavyfunkmachin

don't ditch myspace yet, something else is comming, but i not quite here yet.

I work in a major label and i can tell you for suer, A&R people still use myspace friends (the number, actually) as a clue before signing someone...

Majors still have A&R people?

[pasta4lnch]

Originally Posted by Ground Pounder

Majors still have A&R people?

there's still Majors?