I think myspace is a great tool to use in your marketing campaign, but not the only tool you should use. When there are products out there like bandzoogle myspace should not be your only online presence.
Bands need to remember that myspace is a shop window. You put the important eye catching information on it and then get people to come to your website to get more information.
Myspace is great to meet fans but you should follow that up with your mailing list so you can contact them to tell them about your band.
If you are in a band to succesfully suceed with online marketing you should have:
website, twitter, myspace, facebook, you tube and linkedIn.
Today you can link all your social networking sites together,it helps you not miss anyone, and you can get great word of mouth from these sites. You need your website because this should be your online hub. As we have seen myspace is starting to go out of fashion,facebook will go out of fashion, but a website is yours and that will always be in fashion. Linked in for all you musicians out there is a great way to meet industry people. Use social networking to get fans bring them to your website, and use linkedin to meet your industry people and bring them to your website. This shows the importance of your website

My band are called BenSem and we adopt this method of marketing and we are doing ok at the moment, we just gave away 50,000 downloads of our album worldwide, and we were just on The Real World on MTV, honestly it works

Regards
Michelle-Ellen
Stripped Management

I kind of did everything in reverse... started late with facebook, got a reverbnation profile for the songs which then syncd with My Band, then
found Bandzoogle which beat everything, and finally sorted out MySpace almost as an afterthought ('cos everyone else had one!)

I reckon MySpace Music is a bit of a waste of space - limited to 10 songs with very little compatibility with other music sites. Fair enough,
MySpace personal profiles serve for a multitude of things, and one can deploy umpteen widgets hither and thither.

Thanks for aboarding the subject Alison, I'm sure there will be a variety of responses and opinions. And once again, cheers to the BZ team
who constantly surprise me with innovations and pro-reactive advice.

Ben

The thing I don't like about Myspace is all the spam and ads everywhere. That, and the over saturation of bands vying for attention. You're a drop in the Atlantic on Myspace. Every morning when I log in I have 20 new emails about music related scams and invitations to events outside my state. Oh yeah, and porn! On the other hand, I also have 20 new friend requests every day. I suspect though that most friend requests are from other bands who don't take the time to even figure out that I'm a musician.

I use my Myspace as a portal to draw people to my main website. Once fans are there, they can use my Bandzoogle tools to join my email list, chat with other fans on forums, read my blog, see events, etc., without the annoyance of some flash ad blaring "Which of your friends has a secret crush on you?" or "The Truth About Scientology!" or "Pop the Punk's Zit's in 10 Seconds & Win a Free Ipod!" ... or some other such nonsense that has nothing to do with my music (or even music in general).

My 2 cents

Jennifer

I've come to the conclusion that "less is more" when it comes to your online presence. I've got a myspace, facebook, twitter, bzoogle, blogspot, youtube and vimeo site. I've come to the realization that as an artist, I'd like all roads to lead to www.thedweller.com. Social networking sites should be for that...social networking. Generally speaking, if you are only using social networking sites to "promote" yourself, it'll come across as spam anyway. If I were to hinge too much on any of those social sites, whenever their popularity fade, so does my traffic. I'm not saying don't have them, i'm saying NEVER put too much (and certainly not all) of your eggs in that basket.

ThedWeller wrote:

I've come to the conclusion that "less is more" when it comes to your online presence. I've got a myspace, facebook, twitter, bzoogle, blogspot, youtube and vimeo site. I've come to the realization that as an artist, I'd like all roads to lead to www.thedweller.com. Social networking sites should be for that...social networking. Generally speaking, if you are only using social networking sites to "promote" yourself, it'll come across as spam anyway. If I were to hinge too much on any of those social sites, whenever their popularity fade, so does my traffic. I'm not saying don't have them, i'm saying NEVER put too much (and certainly not all) of your eggs in that basket.

Totally agree! However I would add that frequently (or not so frequently) updated social networking sites can serve as free advertisements linking to your website.

See what I did with my Myspace banner: http://www.MySpace.com/JenniferGrassman

I get visits from there pretty regularly and never update it but once in a blue moon. Lol.

Facebook & Twitter however I do update rather vigorously. Those are GREAT for building lasting relationships with fans (and industry peeps ... hint hint).

I'm @JGrassman

Which reminds me ... you can follow BandZoogle on Twitter via @BandZoogle

Rule #1: Always network with the people who can / do / might help you out

As most people know, the more links that are tied to your website, the higher up in the google searches you end up. Where myspace comes in handy, is that the more "friends" you have on myspace, the more your name turns up in the searches.
I've also used myspace as a funnel to my BZ site. Myspace is not the be-all/end-all promotional tool we all hoped it would be, but you can't deny that some random people have crossed your myspace that would have never stumbled across your website.
So, what we've gone about doing is is whenever a real person requests us on myspace, I leave them a comment or shoot them a semi-personalized message based on what I find on their profile that asks them to sign up for our mailing list that way we can keep in touch regardless of when myspace is having a bad day. Another useful thing about myspace is that you get a peak into the lives of your friends/fans. The more you know about them, the easier it is to get your music into their ear-holes.
You also have the music players where people can add your music to their profile. It's free promotion!
I think most bands think that all you need is a myspace, but, those guys are a dime a dozen and they focus all their efforts trying to make something of themselves in an area where everyone wants the exact same things and are limited to the exact same tools.
In closing, I don't think myspace needs to be the core of your promotion, because it is an extremely over-saturated area, but, when used in conjunction with your website, it will drive traffic your way. It may not be a ton of traffic, but, since myspace is free, it's traffic you didn't pay for.

I hate MySpace, but just in the past week I've booked several gigs through it so....

C

We've had huge problems with myspace recently. We have made a lot of friends and contacts through myspace in the past, but we recently noticed that not a single one of our friend requests for weeks had been accepted. We have always sent out individual personalized friend requests, and have never used any kind of program etc to "get" friends. Eventually people we actually know told us they were not receiving our friend requests, which seemed odd. We contacted myspace many times, getting standard replies from a robot. It was very frustrating because we had a new album released last Monday so we wanted to let lots of people to know about it. After a great deal of attempts to get help from myspace we found out from myspace that all of our friend requests are routed directly into the recipients spam folder. Why? Well it seems that if several people just mark your friend request as spam then that's it . . . a mechanism is triggered that marks ALL your subsequent friend requests as spam. Here is the reply I finally managed to get from myspace after MANY attempts to get help from them:

Hello,

I am Sara, the supervisor of the security abuse department. Currently, we do not provide phone support and are unable to resolve this via telephone.

I understand your frustration with this situation and I apologize for any inconvenience this has caused you. Please understand that no one is accusing you of spamming. What is causing your requests to be routed to the junk folder is an automatic mechanism which is triggered by the users you are sending your requests to. Some of the users you have sent your requests to, marked them as spam. After several users have done so, it will trigger a mechanism which then begins to route all your correspondence to the junk folder. We at MySpace.com have no control over this mechanism and are unable to reverse it once it has been triggered. The only way to have your requests discontinue being routed to the junk folder is to have several recipients approve your friend requests from the junk folder.

This is not a malfunction or a bug and the system is operating correctly. Is there anything else I can help you with?

Thank You,
Sara
Supervisor, Security Abuse

So be very careful (we thought we were being careful) who you send a friend request to, because if the recipient just clicks on 'junk' or 'spam' instead of ignore, and a few people do it you will end up not being able to send out any more friend requests. It would appear from the reply from myspace that myspace themselves have no control over myspace!!

On the positive side this has made me think about time spent on myspace, and wonder if it is actually worth all the time and effort we put into it. I think that from here on out for us myspace will have much less significance and will just be a webpage we check now and again.

If I get 1 new person to view my material as a result. I'm better off for it. As a result of Myspace I have gotten my music placed on over 500 European radio stations, landed top name management & much more. I do know that the person who said not to put all your eggs in one basket is right on. I love this age in music where an artist has more control over their business. I personally believe in using all the social networks, but I work Facebook & Reverbnation the hardest these days. If you do it right you will bring people to you, sell your merchandise and grow a fan base. Our fan base or mailing list between all our social networks (including BZ) has grown by 16,000 in 6 months.

Sure you have to put up with the crap like spam, ad's & etc..... but worth it in the long run. I think it all depends on the artists and their goals. If your a local band, playing local venues with the desire to play a couple times a month..you may not need them. However, if your an artist trying to make a living and build a career/business, you can't do without them.

My petty opinion
Jimmy Warren
www.jimmywarrenband.com

What do you guys think is the #1 way to promote yourself online? Years ago it was MySpace. Now many prefer Facebook as their main social networking site. Some music artist websites just link to their social networking sites and iTunes. Interesting to see where things are going.

I think you should post your info on whichever site you spend the most time on. Its better to cultivate a core group of people that you communicate with regularly and meet potential fans on sites that they are comfortable on. Check out ping.fm because it allows you to update your stauts on multiple sites at once.

Minsky
Steel Drum Musician
www.hearsteeldrumsplay.com

50shekelgmailcom wrote:

What do you guys think is the #1 way to promote yourself online? Years ago it was MySpace. Now many prefer Facebook as their main social networking site. Some music artist websites just link to their social networking sites and iTunes. Interesting to see where things are going.

Aviad - I have my Twitter set up to update my Facebook. I tweet my website link at least twice a day with pertinent updates (a new photo, new blog, etc.) which gets me over 100 referrals (what Bandzoogle Stats call "Links From Other Sites") per month directly from Facebook and Twitter alone.

Thank you Jennifer Will look into the tips

I used to love MySpace, but Allison you're right. All it is these days is fake profiles and people spamming etc. I rarely use it now. I have an account for almost every social network. Just in case my fans want to support over on whatever site it is. But mainly I use my own site to upload music and then promote it through facebook, bebo, soundclick etc... MySpace for me has lost it's buzz and authenticity.

It would be worth paying for advertisements on myspace just so potential fans could see your ad and visit you. But you have no chance these days just by adding people, it rarely helps.

I agree with the teenager comment! I have pretty much given myspace away and focus on my bandzoogle website and facebook, facebook to me is a tool to send people to my official page! Why would'nt you make your bandzoogle page the main point of focus!

Keep up the good work Zooglers

Regards

Shane McLeay
www.shanemcleay.com

I don't use Myspace for bands. I have a regular account and I post my songs there in a Reverb
Nation player.

Whereas facebook is great for keeping up with friends and family, Myspace is much better at
posting your artistic expressions, and at reviewing other people's.

I look at myspace as an online demo and not much more!

The thing that bothers me the most about MySpace as well as other similar sites is how people are able to actually pay for plays, friends, and even comments on their site. You really don't know if what you're seeing is real or not. I get a little suspicious when I go to someone's MySpace and they have over 100,000 plays, yet their music isn't that good. Forgive me for being so blunt, but it isn't fair for those of us who really want to do it the honest way (in my humble opinion). Unfortunately, these people get most of the traffic, because of their numbers. Also, I actually deleted my MySpace three different times, because I was sick of the spam as well as the games that musicians play over there (more of a numbers game than a support of each others musical gifting). Now, I just have it for "demo" purposes...nothing more. Also, I'm rarely over there, now.

MySpace pages take a really long time to load if they load at all. That's the main reason I killed our MySpace about 2 years ago. You get what you pay for! Also it isn't user friendly. You're listening to a band's music and you decide you want to see their photos and Boom the music turns off. Fuck that.

I still use MySpace to listen and find new bands, but as far as using it to promote my website, it's pretty pathetic these days. I remember it was huge when I was young, but it's gotten very boring over the years. I will still use it for finding new bands (it's great for that), but I deleted my personal profile and no longer care for networking.

I read somewhere in the last six months that Myspace is still pretty much the default for where people look for musicians if they are trying to find someone. (It might have been on NewMusicStrategies--Andrew Dubbers Blog). In any case, I keep my MySpace up as kind of a flyer or maybe a onesheet. Yes, there's lots to hate about it, but people may look for me there and hopefully they choose to visit my website as a result.

Reverbnation has taken over the "real" music scene. The integration is endless. It is much more powerful than MySpace.

DrySpace.

Having said that, in Europe (non-English-speaking) , MySpace Music seems to be the most recognized and frequented means for bands to
showcase their stuff. If Reverbnation and Bandzoogle worked on some multilingual aspects there's a whole other market out there.

I've just sold a couple CD's recently thanks to Myspace. Also, it's still largely recognized in Japan where a lot of my followers are from.

Any band that is not on myspace is not really in the game. It is the top social site on the net for artists. And its not just for getting so called fans. Its about networking with other bands, sharing info, finding other bands to tour with, finding distribution and marketing, record labels. Winge about it all you like but if you wanna find someone, its on myspace.
Its not really about how many fans or plays you get its about starting relationships and connecting with the industry.

all of it is good.
just waiting 4 widgets for ea. album!

Majority of people in this world understand the old addage, "If you want something or require something done. Go to the head of the
snake!" The true source of what you are needing accomplished. I will neither confirm nor deny, that all these marketing sites are
successfull. I myself have been considering combining them all to make a more effective experience. Even though at this time my .COM &
Myspace is all I currently have. I have never really been a fan of social networks. Especially since they are poisoned with scam artist &
bullsh*tters.

Personally, I feel, and this is opinion. That the true success for everyone here at Bandzoogle and on the web in general. Is to create that
solid foundation. The official home for everyone whom appreciates your art. Maintain your .COM! Promote that essence, because that is
your foundation. Yes! You can reach out to so much more, but in the end putting to much focus on filling your yard full of gaughty
gnomes and peeing goats & not fixing the front steps to your home. Just might in the end keep people from visiting you all together.

The social networks they help, but everyone here deserves so much more in the end per their own respective genre. The .COM should be
your priority everything else re-enforcement (should you choose). Your .COM in the end is a reflection of your true self!

In my opinion, MySpace is becoming over-saturated. Quoting Thed Weller below, "Social networking sites should be for that...social
networking." With the extensive use of auto-bot software, such as AddNewFriends and FriendBlaster, musicians are starting to have a harder
time networking on MySpace because many people overuse this software, creating spam. To counteract this, if you're going to have a
MySpace page, make it look as professional as possible. With so many musicians trying to create a "buzz" on MySpace, visual appeals, such
as standout graphics, designs and layouts, must attract your potential audience into checking out your page and music. I also feel more
people should utilize SoundClick over MySpace. Surveying the opinions of consumers, they trust downloading and purchasing more products
on Soundclick than MySpace or in some cases, a person's own website because they don't have to worry about spam, hackers, etc. And if
they are purchasing something, they have a better guarantee of receiving their product because they can report it to Soundclick and/or
PayPal. MySpace has been a success for some artists, but I think it's best for any artist to find their online marketing niche and focus on that.
The more social networking you do, the better...

I think Myspace is all good. As long as you can get your music out there, who cares if teenagers are the majority audience. They are the future consumers and you need to never forget that. Furthermore unless you're some big shot artist the more web presence you have the better. Having another avenue to reach fans will in no way hurt you. It solely comes down to personal preference about what sites you would like to put your music on. It may not be as effective as a personal website but in today's world it would be foolish to not have a profile for exposure purposes.

Myspace had it's time and was at one point a great tool for promoting your music and social networking. It was never a site which allowed you to have an exclusive, professional looking standalone website (yourname.com), which is one of the things that adds credibility to who you are and what you do!

Also, myspace has been hijacked by people who masquerade as musicians and has also become a playground for kids. Shame really.

It's sad to see myspace attempt to keep up with other similar sites so obviously and not entirely successfully. It's had it day!... I wanted something I could use to promote both my streams of work (I tour a covers show called UNDER COVERS and also record and sell my own music). Myspace could never really offer me that versatility. Having my own standalone website through Bandzoogle does however, having a seperate page for my own stuff etc....

Myspace has become tired, old and cumbersome. It's like comparing myspace as a Sony Tape Walkman against Bandzoogle as an Ipod touch!

Thanks to myspace. It was good at the time.
But it's RIP I think.

Booker

Last weeked I watched a BBC report on News Corp; the company that owns Myspace. The Report featured a video of a speech by Rupert Murdoch's son James Murdoch. I watched in amazement as James Murdoch pounded the podium and declared that "Capitalism" was the only way to have a true and balanced flow on information. In my opinion News Corp is one of the most right wing organizations in existence today and we as independent artist that use Myspace are Hypocrites of the worst kind.It only takes a small look back at the companies behavior during the Obama camping to see News Corps true colors. My question to indie artist is this. Why do we continue to help a company "News Corp" generate millions of dollars off of our content. Why do we continue to grease the wheels and fill the pockets of a company that holds views that are not aligned with those most independent artist ? Is it hypocritical to write songs about changing the world while helping a semi fascist news organization generate millions of dollars to support ideas that are counter to our core values ?

I just read darkstarline; and while I agree in principle--you're unrealistic. Leonardo Da Vinci built war machines for Warpigs of his era;
Valasquez coddled up to monarchs who weren't even Spanish. Having aid that--I'm OFF MYSPACE -- you convinced me. 1)I hate the fact
we've had 8 years of war in the new millenium, benefiting only the super rich. 2) Having all these websites drains my energy -- I'll focus on
this one and throw stuff up on Facebook -- it's easy. Good luck!

crabmeat wrote:

I just read darkstarline; and while I agree in principle--you're unrealistic. Leonardo Da Vinci built war machines for
Warpigs of his era;
Valasquez coddled up to monarchs who weren't even Spanish. Having aid that--I'm OFF MYSPACE -- you convinced me. 1)I hate the fact
we've had 8 years of war in the new millenium, benefiting only the super rich. 2) Having all these websites drains my energy -- I'll focus on
this one and throw stuff up on Facebook -- it's easy. Good luck!

Hear hear! That's exactly what I wanted to say...

I hate myspace just as much as the next cat, but it has sort of become the "indexing" standard
of online music. For instance, if I catch word of a band visiting our city or opening for a
major act, the very first search I do for that band is on Myspace. That way I can listen to
some free songs from the group, see some pics and vids, and get an idea what the band is about.

My suggestion is that you at least start a myspace account and post your music, bio, blog, etc.
Because a lot of Venues also use this method to research bands. All of the shows we have ever
booked were the result of being discovered and liked by someone through myspace.

Here in MI, there are some venues and radio stations that rely on MySpace to get to know your music / book your band. It's a necessary evil in my opinion.

Sell out
By Neil Young

Five cheat card thief, misled skinhead,
Tell me where it's at?
Is it cool to bring it up again?
Will I blow my act?
Misplaced tinselface, weekend pretend,
Am I on your track?
I would love to live close to you,
Could I bring my cat?

Cowgirl, sailor,
Do you know who you are?
Cowgirl, sailor,
Do you know who you are?
Do you know who you are?

Overfed premed, outfront gaspump,
Will I fix my car?
Dig yourself when I smile at you,
Baby, I'm a star!
Turned on, tuned in, cop out, sell out,
Do you know who you are?
I took the time to try to fit you in,
Was I off too far?

Cowgirl, sailor,
Do you know who you are?
Cowgirl, sailor,
Do you know who you are?
Do you know who you are?

My biggest concern is hearing all kinds of messages relating my looks, or wanting to meet me. I can only respond with "thanks so much for the compliment, but i am using this to promote my music!" It gets frustrating.

Sell out
By Neil Young

Five cheat card thief, misled skinhead,
Tell me where it's at?
Is it cool to bring it up again?
Will I blow my act?
Misplaced tinselface, weekend pretend,
Am I on your track?
I would love to live close to you,
Could I bring my cat?

Cowgirl, sailor,
Do you know who you are?
Cowgirl, sailor,
Do you know who you are?
Do you know who you are?

Overfed premed, outfront gaspump,
Will I fix my car?
Dig yourself when I smile at you,
Baby, I'm a star!
Turned on, tuned in, cop out, sell out,
Do you know who you are?
I took the time to try to fit you in,
Was I off too far?

Cowgirl, sailor,
Do you know who you are?
Cowgirl, sailor,
Do you know who you are?
Do you know who you are?

meganzurkey wrote:

My biggest concern is hearing all kinds of messages relating my looks, or wanting to meet me. I can only respond with "thanks so much for the compliment, but i am using this to promote my music!" It gets frustrating.

I think as a woman in the music industry, you get a certain amount of that, anyway. Some people interpret "I'm a girl who plays music" as "I like to sleep with everyone." It's a little bit annoying, but I guess that it just comes with the territory.

I don't think it hurts to have a myspace for the above mentioned reasons, because it is like a sort of "index," especially for many venues, but at the same time, I never spend much time on there. And I never really find new music that I want to listen to by browsing on myspace. There are a lot better websites out there, both for social networking or music promotion, but I know some people still look at my myspace, so I keep it up.

I totally agree Saracrawford & Meganzurkey Honestly, this has been a constant dilemma for me as a female artist as well. Part of the reason that I deleted my MySpace before was because I had a guy stalking me. It got pretty bad about a couple of years ago, but things are much better now. At least I feel as though I can monitor things a little better over here at Bandzoogle, which is definitely a plus. I've learned that I have to be very careful with fans who write me behind the scenes.

Do what we do. Ask your fans at your shows and find out how they heard about the show. Did they hear it on the radio or see it in a newspaper ad? Or did they check out your web site OR see it posted on MySpace? It's about 1/2 and 1/2 for us - some fans use MySpace and others use our web site. Bandzoogle is so much easier to use than MySpace. On the other hand, MySpace is FREE!

Who is utilizing ReverbNation? How is it more worth the effort than time spent on Myspace??

I think everyone here is only looking at MySpace from a musician stand point, which makes sense because everyone here is some how associated to music. What you really have to look at is how many millions of other people (potential fans) hang out on MySpace for all the other things MySpace offers not just music. I think it is still a great tool to connect with future fans! You just have to utilize it correctly so it can be effective for you! This should just be one of many tools you use to promote your music!

What most indie musicians and fans do not know is that Myspace music is a joint venture between News Corp and three of major music labels.

When the joint venture was set up NewsCorp/Myspace paid the Major labels close to 100 million dollars as a settlement against law suits filed by the majors. In a sense NewsCorp/Myspace used royalties/money generated by independent artist and their fans to pay the labels off. A Major Label and NewsCorp/Myspace partnership means that when an independent artist uploads music to Myspace and points their fans to their profile page,they are filling the pockets of the labels as well as News Corp and receiving very little in return.This is a great arrangement for the labels, they generate millions in revenue from independent artist without having to pay them anything for their music.

By partnering with News Corp/MySpace the Majors have co-opted all indie artist that use Myspace music.In fact indie artist that use Myspace have the worst label deal possible; no percentage of any revenue from the Labels or NewsCorp, even though collectively Indie artist content generates hundreds of millions of dollars for News Corp and Myspace. I do not believe in the argument that Indie artist and fans have no other choice than to use Myspace. There are other choices as and we should understand and take responsibility for the choices that we make as artists.

I think that it is hypocritical to have a band with a message in their music that speaks against a system and at the same time the band knowingly participating in the very system that they are criticizing.

Musicians and Fans know that by supporting Myspace you are helping to dismantle free media and free speech world wide.

Your music, content, friending and clicks generate revenue and greases the wheels of one of the largest right wing media monopolies in the world.

Companies Owned News Corp
Filmed Entertainment - News Corporation
20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox Espanol
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
20th Century Fox International
20th Century Fox Television
Blue Sky Studios
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Fox Studios Australia
Fox Studios LA
Fox Studios Baja
Fox Television Studios

Television - News Corporation
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Sports Australia
Fox Television Stations
FOXTEL
STAR

Cable Television owned by News Corporation
Fox Movie Channel
Fox News Channel
Fox Sports Digital
Fox Sports Enterprises
Fox Sports Espanol
Fox Sports Net
Fox Sports World
FUEL
FX
National Geographic Channel
SPEED Channel
Stats, Inc

Direct Broadcast & Satellite Television - News Corporation
BskyB
DIRECTV
FOXTEL
Sky Italia

Magazines - News Corporation
Inside Out
Donna Hay
News America Marketing
Smart Source
The Weekly Standard
Gemstar

Newspapers - News Corporation
Australasian region Newspapers:
Daily Telegraph
Fiji Times
Gold Coast Bulletin
Herald Sun
Newsphotos
Newspix
Newstext
NT News
Post Courier
Sunday Herald Sun
Sunday Mail
Sunday Tasmanian
Sunday Territorian
Sunday Times
The Advertiser
The Australian
The Courier Mail
The Mercury
The Sunday Mail
The Sunday Telegraph
Weekly Times
United Kingdom region Newspapers:
News International
News of the World
The Sun
The Sunday Times
The Times
Times Education Supplement
Times Higher Education Supplement
Times Literary Supplement
TSL Education
United States region Newspapers:
New York Post

Books - News Corporation
Harper Collins Publishers
- Australia
- Canada
- Childrens Books
- United States
- United Kingdom
Regan Books
Zondervan

Other Investments - News Corporation
MySpace.com Profile
Festival Records
Mushroom Records
National Rugby League - Australia
News Interactive
News Outdoor
Nursery World

darkstarline wrote:

What most indie musicians and fans do not know is that Myspace music is a joint venture between News Corp and three of major music labels.

When the joint venture was set up NewsCorp/Myspace paid the Major labels close to 100 million dollars as a settlement against law suits filed by the majors. In a sense NewsCorp/Myspace used royalties/money generated by independent artist and their fans to pay the labels off. A Major Label and NewsCorp/Myspace partnership means that when an independent artist uploads music to Myspace and points their fans to their profile page,they are filling the pockets of the labels as well as News Corp and receiving very little in return.This is a great arrangement for the labels, they generate millions in revenue from independent artist without having to pay them anything for their music.

By partnering with News Corp/MySpace the Majors have co-opted all indie artist that use Myspace music.In fact indie artist that use Myspace have the worst label deal possible; no percentage of any revenue from the Labels or NewsCorp, even though collectively Indie artist content generates hundreds of millions of dollars for News Corp and Myspace. I do not believe in the argument that Indie artist and fans have no other choice than to use Myspace. There are other choices as and we should understand and take responsibility for the choices that we make as artists.

I think that it is hypocritical to have a band with a message in their music that speaks against a system and at the same time the band knowingly participating in the very system that they are criticizing.

Musicians and Fans know that by supporting Myspace you are helping to dismantle free media and free speech world wide.

Your music, content, friending and clicks generate revenue and greases the wheels of one of the largest right wing media monopolies in the world.

Companies Owned News Corp
Filmed Entertainment - News Corporation
20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox Espanol
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
20th Century Fox International
20th Century Fox Television
Blue Sky Studios
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Fox Studios Australia
Fox Studios LA
Fox Studios Baja
Fox Television Studios

Television - News Corporation
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Sports Australia
Fox Television Stations
FOXTEL
STAR

Cable Television owned by News Corporation
Fox Movie Channel
Fox News Channel
Fox Sports Digital
Fox Sports Enterprises
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I must be missing something. This just sounds like great advertising to me. Also, since myspace is free for musicians to use to advertise their music, how is myspace giving our money to News Corp and the entities you've listed? Sure, they sell ads to other companies that appear on our profiles, but it's not taking money out of OUR pockets.

You are actually missing a lot; and this is associated with your notion of "Free" and maybe your notion of "Freedom".

My issues with Myspace/Newscorp has much to do with their political stance. NewsCorp is a right wing news/media company that in my view is a very destabilizing force for "free" speech and a pluralistic democracy.

I understand that your political views maybe different from my own, so I will try to focus my reply to your comment on the economic realities of Myspace/NewsCorp.

Do you think/believe that News Corp/Myspace would give users something for "Free" ?

They are in the business of profit and to generate profit they need/want you to give them your content. They sell ads on your profiles and sell information concerning you to generate profits. I think that last year Myspace generated 500 million dollars or more in revenue. This revenue did not appear out of thin air, it was generated using member generated content, mostly music. I believe that if X percentage of the revenue generated for Myspace comes from indie artist, that indie artist should receive a portion of this revenue. Just for kicks; let's put the shoe on the other foot. If I created a site that generated revenue from the content created by News Corp; I m fairly certain that News Corp would eventually tell me that unless I gave them a percentage of the revenue that they would take their content out of the system. I would actually agree with their stance on doing this, because I think that content that has value (Generates revenue, or has the potential to generate revenue) should be paid for. In my view indie artist content adds value/generates revenue for News Corp, and because of this indie artist should be monetarily compensated.....The money that NewsCorp generates from the ads on your profile page is used as operating capital , and what is left is counted as profit.

Myspace doesn't hurt, and I think it can help to some degree, particularly in networking with other musicians. I think it used to be the primary place for many fans to check out new music, but not sure that is the case anymore.

My Space is owned by Rupurt Murdoch. Enough said.

I think it's important to have a MySpace site but just to have it. Many promoters ask for the link. Then, I personally focus my energy on the personal website, the mail list and Twitter since it offers an easy way to update news and gives the possibility to stay close to the fans. And to build everything from the base I believe Bandzoogle is the best Headquarter in the world to get organized.

I actually posed this same question a while ago on this site...As I have said before, i think that myspace music is not the most user friendly place to promote your music. i feel that the format makes it hard to showcase yourself without becoming a billboard for others to fill your comment page with their own promo stuff. You do have some control but the pay off is that you either alienate and constantly monitor messages or you just let it happen and consider it part and parcel to the whole thing.

Nothing i have found seems to come close to having your own site such as BZ. You are in more control and your interface is so much more geared toward music creation and self expression. I think that Myspace makes a great social network and a place to probably attract fans, but i ultimately request that those myspace friends check out the real stuff i have on bandzoogle.

I have a myspace account, but i am not a myspace fan.

Hurting! Or should I say Myspace is Hurt!

As a band we've used myspace and most of all the social networks to get our self out there. With it being free advertising, it is hands down a great tool for any upcoming artists and veteran artists to expand their horizons. Though for every good apple there is a bad seed. There are many bands flooding the underground market with friend requests, bulletins, messages, etc.. (you get the picture) These headaches take over our(meaning all bands and personal profiles) inboxes and bulletin boards causing us to lose touch with what it's all about. None the less, in the end we do get this for free and we do having new friends who actually listen to our music and respond, btw, Thanks, all you crazy friends and fans, we really do apprieciate all of your help. After all it is ALL ABOUT EXPOSURE!! www.myspace.com/shadowofmyself704

Scottie G
SoM

hethandjed wrote:

My Space is owned by Rupurt Murdoch. Enough said.

I thought "TOM" owned it?!

Maybe "Tom" IS Rupert Murdoch.
I have visions of an enormous leather revolving throne and a sinister fluffy white cat.

One should be careful about what one says about Tom - he has A LOT of friends....

I hate MySpace. But I have a profile because at least within some circles it's the default destination where people go to look for you and and sample your music. However, it all boils down to target marketing. I guess I'm approaching the old fart stage of life (I'm forty-eight) and I've found that my fans are predominantly over 40. As a result, it seems that very few of my fans are MySpace users, either as members or just going to a MySpace profile to check out music. So my overall point is, if your fans are on MySpace, you should use it. If they're not, focus on other ways to reach your fans. At worst, MySpace helps you because it's a link to your main site.

Some interesting data on social networking users broken down by Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/10/13/social.networking.class/index.html

Ahh, I still meet a lot of legit people on Myspace. It's free! Who cares if it's burnt out or not? It certainly doesn't hurt to have it, now does it?

Of COURSE you will use your Bandzoogle site as your main home, but the more you can get your band name out there, the better. Myspace is still good for that, and frankly there are lots of good bands on it, you just gotta weed the garden.

Hurting! by far

"MySpace music is expanding as amafessional bands can place their content and their songs right next to the big names. Five million artists, bands and record labels have registered with the site"- The Wall Street Journal

It was groundbreaking back in 2005; amazing it's still around after 5 years. Although it's mostly wading through spam these days, like some post concert flyer apocalypse, I like to look at it and remember the good ole days.

Allison wrote:

By June 2006, MySpace had become the most popular social networking site by far and a great tool for musicians. Since then, there have been many changes to MySpace and more specifically MySpace Music...some good and some not so good. Some say that MySpace has been taken over by teenagers (and those pretending to be teenagers) who are just looking for some time-wasting fun. If that is the case, do you see MySpace as a legitimate vehicle for promoting your music? Additionally, with so many indie artists vying for attention on MySpace, is it helping or hurting your efforts?

On the flipside, there have been a few artists who have promoted themselves heavily on MySpace which has launched their career to new heights.

Do you think it’s worth your time and energy to maintain a MySpace Music profile?

Let’s open up this topic to all things MySpace...the good, the bad and the ugly.

Honestly. Free sites offer all sorts of uninteresting extras. Free holds to its definition. With that. You have to surf through; time consuming, for some. Then, there's choices that eliminate the spectrum. My Space. Luck to draw. For some.

House of hypocrites

Can any one take a stand...

Any artist that is socially conscious and has written or preformed any songs that are socially conscious please delete your My Space page today.

Do we sing and write the songs to pander to hipness, or do we believe the words that we write and sing.

News Corp is owned by Rupert Murdoch and News Corp owns Myspace. Your content is used to fill the pockets of a man and a corporation that supports views that are not aligned with yours.

Saying that there is no other place to put your music is not an excuse. There are other places, and to know that they exist and to continue to support News Corp is Hypocritical.

"Rupert Murdoch has been forced to deny he believes Barack Obama is a racist, after appearing to back the controversial Fox News presenter Glenn Beck's comments about the US president.

The chairman and chief executive of News Corporation said in an interview earlier this week that Obama had made "a very racist comment" and that Beck's views were "right".

"He does not at all, for a minute, think the president is a racist," a News Corp spokesman told the US website Politico.

In the interview with Sky News Australia, Murdoch was asked about the views expressed by contributors to Fox News, including Beck's view that Obama was a racist.

"He [Obama] did make a very racist comment about blacks and whites and so on, which he said in his campaign he would be completely above," Murdoch said.

"That was something which perhaps should not have been said about the president but if you actually look at what he [Beck] was talking about, he was right."

Beck caused uproar in July when he described Obama had "a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture".

His remarks were made during a discussion of Obama's reaction to the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr, an African-American Harvard academic.

Murdoch also said in the interview he thought the Obama presidency was going "badly", citing the defection of independent voters in recent elections in Virginia and New Jersey."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/nov/11/rupert-murdoch-barack-obama

I think myspace is still worth setting up. I agree that its popularity has fallen off. I believe facebook is now bigger than myspace. But people still kinda look at myspace. I've met artists on myspace and have done remixes for their projects, etc. I think having your own site like on bandzoogle and others is better though. You have more control over things.

Any artist that is socially conscious and has written or preformed any songs that are socially conscious please delete your My Space page today.

Do we sing and write the songs to pander to hipness, or do we believe the words that we write and sing.

News Corp is owned by Rupert Murdoch and News Corp owns Myspace. Your content is used to fill the pockets of a man and a corporation that supports views that are not aligned with yours.

Saying that there is no other place to put your music is not an excuse. There are other places, and to know that they exist and to continue to support News Corp is Hypocritical.

darkstarline wrote:

News Corp is owned by Rupert Murdoch and News Corp owns Myspace. Your content is used to fill the pockets of a man and a corporation that supports views that are not aligned with yours.