Myspace, Youtube & the New Music Revolution
Like most independent artists and bands, the Baton Rouge based duo Bones has found success using Myspace. Over the last two years, they had received nearly 20,000 views, had their music played 21,000+ times and signed up nearly 3,000 friends. Then one October day, bassist and vocalist Michael Miller logged in only to find the band’s myspace page was gone!
Seems like a Fox television show by the name of Bones had mysteriously been given the band’s myspace address without the band’s knowledge.
“We've used that URL for almost 2 years to build our band name and fan base, and it's on all of our product and posters,” said Miller. “We're as indie as it gets and can't afford to reprint everything." |
Miller and crew frantically attempted to contact someone, anyone at Myspace, but no response came. With an East Coast tour already planned and an upcoming CD release set for November, Bones fought back, sending out press releases and getting the word out to anyone that would listen.
The band was successful in getting a number of media outlets to cover their situation, and a month later, the day after their CD was released, the band received a response from one of Myspace’s founders - the defacto “first friend” Tom.
"I heard about what happened with your URL. I gave it back to ya,” Tom said in an email to the band. “Sorry about that! As we grow in size, sometimes people make decisions I don't know about. This was obviously the wrong decision. The bones URL is yours once again."
The debate on whether Myspace gave the band back its URL out of a sense of right and wrong vs receiving bad press is for another article. But the important underlying theme is how important it is for artists and bands to realize a Myspace page is never a replacement for your own website.
“One of the most common pieces of web advice we give bands is to list their real website address several times on their Myspace page,” said Josh Wendell, the Director of the Independent Artist Registry. “Not only should you have it in a hyperlink, but as plain readable text too. On top of driving Myspace traffic to your official site, a large number of click thru’s will help your official band URL come up higher in search engine listings.”
“Your website is your online home,” said publisher and artist development consultant David Codr. “Myspace is a great tool and I recommend every band have a page, but I’d never let myself get into a position where someone else has control of an aspect of the band. Who knows what’s going to happen with Myspace, and what recourse do you think you’ll have if they decide to make it a paid service for bands? You got the page for free.”
Additionally, not all music industry pros are Myspacers. “I work 60-80 hours a week booking then promoting my shows,” said Scott Dabro, a talent buyer on the west coast. “I’m not a big fan of Myspace. It always seems to take forever to load the pages and that email-me button only works about half the time. If I’m sitting there waiting for my computer to load the page for too long, it starts to reflect on the band. Give me a band name dot com address any day. Just make sure your email is listed and working there. Personally I’m impressed when bands list a phone number on their website. If I have an open slot – I’m not waiting for an email reply. I’m on to the next band so I can book the gig and move on.”
So if you’re a band or artist with a mMyspace page, make sure you have an “official” website and that your Myspace page links to it.
So we don’t make this a Myspace-bashing article, it should be noted that Myspace’s use of “user-generated content” has helped shape the online music industry. Take Youtube.com. The site receives millions of surfers, and now many independent artists and bands are looking at the site as another online marketing / promotional tool.
Capitol Record’s OK Go’s Million Ways dance idea morphed into the now famous Here It Goes Again “Treadmill video”, ended up on youtube, and the rest is history. In three weeks the video had over four million views and climbed into Youtube's top ten all-time most popular videos.
“Their idea was so good that it wasn’t at all surprising that it blew up on Youtube,” said music video Director Jamie Sebora of www.voltagehouse.com. “But it also shows how important great music videos have become. You don’t have to spend tens of thousands of dollars anymore as long as the content and concept are good. 10 years ago, there were only a handful of places for an independent band to realistically get their video played. Now their are websites like Youtube, Yahoo, internetvideobag, ifilm and on and on. You don’t need a distributor, just a great idea, a Mac or PC and an internet connection.”
Worked for OK Go!. A year after the band’s Oh No release, the band received a 182% bump up Billboard's Digital Album chart, and Capitol shipped 50,000+ additional CDs to retail stores. I’ll say it again, that happened A YEAR AFTER THE CD WAS RELEASED!
Thanks to the internet, the expression “it’s all been done before” is now officially dead in the music industry. |
