BAND PRIMER

NOVEMBER 2010

DID SOMEONE SAY…MY SPACE?

-When you’re in a band, you need to have a online presence. A place where you can define who you are & what your music is all about. A place where people can listen to your music and make comments about it. A place where you can put up pics & list your show dates and have a blog where you can discuss all things that are your band. A place where you can “add friends” and “grow” your fan base. Where is this place you ask? Well, it SHOULD be your own website but for many bands, it was-and still is-having a page on My Space.

-My Space you say? Remember them? It’s kinda funny, but when I mention to people about My Space, I mostly get a look that reads “who the hell goes there anymore?” A few years ago, My Space was sitting high up on top of the social network ladder. It seemed like everyone was on it. How things have changed. It seems that on a daily basis people are abandoning My Space for Facebook and/or Twitter-not to mention other sites. There are still reasons for a band to have a My Space page though-as well as some reasons not to.

-Some of the reasons why it’s still good for a band to have a My Space page are the following. My Space is now known as a place to find bands & their music. If you Google a band, chance are it’s My Space page will be at and/or near the top of the search. My Space also has strong networking with major labels-which may or may not be to your liking depending on how your band is set up. And while many people have abandoned it, there are still millions of people on there-especially overseas. I did a promo campaign recently where I targeted people in Japan for a little while and noticed an increase in my royalty statements from ASCAP. Not a huge increase mind you-very little actually-but it was still an increase. In addition, bands & bars still use it to set up shows. Many agents, promoters, bars & A&R people still use a band’s My Space page friend count as a start to indicate how a band would draw. Of course, it’s still free to create a My Space page and if you need a cheap/fast way to get your band on the web, a My Space page will do it. It seems like every band on the planet has a page on My Space.You can still put up pics (remember years ago when you could only put up to 12 pics on your page-till the movie 300 came out?), list your show dates, send show invites and start a blog on your My Space page.

-Sounds good huh? So why are people-and bands-abandoning it? My thoughts on this-and more-in next month’s article. Keep rockin!

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