MySpace: Like, Dislike?

[ZERO HEROES]

I like to know what people like and dislike about MySpace.

[primeelite]

I like Myspace I think it is the best medium for bands and artists to get exposure easily. Facebook in my opinion bores the hell of out me and does nothing really for promotion and they will keep putting things in place to make it that way which is better for what it is actually built for. I like MySpace and I think they have finally started making changes to make it more for regular people but also update it for music as well and keep giving us more options.

[CLOCK13]

I do not like all ads. Also, the site has technical difficulties sometimes and people can break into your account.

[pjrake]

i think MySpace is probably the best site for an unsigned band to promote their music. people rather go to a band's myspace page than their official page.

 

but i hate the new myspace music player! it's still riddled with bugs... hope they fix it soon.

 

-PJ

[Poker99]

I think people are getting tired of myspace.

 

Also, there are too many bands on it, so its kind off pointless.

[pjrake]

I think people are getting tired of myspace. Also, there are too many bands on it, so its kind off pointless.

 

i agree that there are TONS of bands there now... and bands that have long broken up too, but it's still the premier site to discover new music.

 

if i'm playing a show and don't know the lineup, i can find it on myspace and 9 out of 10 times they'll have a myspace page.

 

-PJ

[winkofaneye]

I think that on the plus side you can reach your audience with the right networking on myspace.The trouble is that 99% of the other people (music-wise) on there are doing the same,so it becomes time-wasting and pointless.You go on myspace to promote your music and just end up bumping into millions of other people doing the same thing.If you are lucky,you can stumble on a lead that can turn into something,and there are artist run sites that you may get some feedback from (John Mayer,Doyle Bramhall etc all do their own sites).I just basically see it as a free website,that I can use for promotion to get gigs with venues etc.It takes too much time in the average day to scrall through myspace and I'd much rather improve my playing technique,or breathe some fresh air.

[rstlz]

I view myspace as one hell of a business card

[BATCAT]

It's buggy, poorly designed, annoying, but totally indispensable.

[MapexDrummer]

 

I.The trouble is that 99% of the other people (music-wise) on there are doing the same,so it becomes time-wasting and pointless.You go on myspace to promote your music and just end up bumping into millions of other people doing the same thing.If you are lucky,you can stumble on a lead that can turn into something,and there are artist run sites that you may get some feedback from (John Mayer,Doyle Bramhall etc all do their own sites)

 

 

..and for this same reason they added a feature for all users that allows you block firiend requests from Bands. They call it a place for music, yet they let users block friend requests from bands. Not that I can fully blame people for turning this privacy feature on, I blame it on all the crappy bands that go crazy adding people. Some people get several random adds from bands daily. It's annoying when I try to add people I actually know to my band's myspace page and I get that stupid message "_____ does not accept requests from bands."

[Enkidu]

Before every band on earth had a myspace it was an AMAZING promotional tool. I feel bad for anyone who missed out on that and early purevolume pure promo ad's. However, now that everyone has caught on it is no more than an easy to maintain web page with a simple interface.

 

Myspace is still an amazing tool for staying in contact with your fan's and other bands. But if you don't have the know how or people skills to make those connections it wont do it for you.

[Enkidu]

 

..and for this same reason they added a feature for all users that allows you block firiend requests from Bands. They call it a place for music, yet they let users block friend requests from bands. Not that I can fully blame people for turning this privacy feature on, I blame it on all the crappy bands that go crazy adding people. Some people get several random adds from bands daily. It's annoying when I try to add people I actually know to my band's myspace page and I get that stupid message "_____ does not accept requests from bands."

 

 

Send your friends a message letting them know you want to be added to their page.

[daddymack]

I see Myspace as a micro-representation of the entire internet....too much junk to wade through to get to lots of good material...I also agree with Enkidu that at the beginning, it was a valuable tool...now, not so much... oversaturation sux...

[The*Ataris]

It's buggy, poorly designed, annoying, but totally indispensable.

 

But it's becoming more dispensable...

 

Where before, it was a populist haven for sharing home grown music ideas across the internet like never before, now, it's a sloppy, corporate mess full of bloated, major label funded 'super' pages and a bunch of tripe that doesn't belong in public. That precious unsigned treasure is SO hard to stumble upon these days, it's not even worth trying.

 

The viewing audience has also turned into a bunch of whiny, self-conscious teenage girls who are more concerned with everyone viewing a thousand self-taken photographs of themselves than sharing ideas and information of value. It's like throwing a fishing line into a swamp. Yeah, you MIGHT catch a fish, but chances are it's so gross, you won't want to keep it.

 

Unfortunately, we do nearly 100% of our booking through Myspace, so we do have to maintain it. That's just what local promoters and booking agents use! Believe me, I've tried passing our booking email around and I've never once had anyone try and contact me through it.

 

I've found facebook a million times more effective in promoting our band recently. It's a smaller group of our friends and REAL local fans who actually go to shows and give a {censored}. No, it's not winning over anyone in West Virginia, but what good is that REALLY, you know?

[intellectsucks]

Ahhhh how I love and hate MySpace. My band has gotten some good things from MySpace, but I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to throw my computer out the window when MySpace inexplicably won't work.

 

Pros:

Easy to maintain.

Multi-functional (can act as mailing list, e-mail, press kit, website and more)

Vast network of potential new fans and contacts.

Easy way to keep in touch with fans and keep fans updated about new happenings (via bulletins, comments, and now the auto update feature).

 

Cons:

Really limits the image you can present. A seperate website can have whatever features you want, with whatever layout you want. Your MySpace page has a set choice of features and layouts.

 

Filled with unbelievable amounts of useless (or worse) garbage. At least 50% of our new friend requests are from other local bands, local venues and local "production companies", who are just requesting everyone in the area as friends. We get 3-4 weekly messages about "unbelievable distribution opportunities" (a company wants to charge $.50 on the dollar to put you on iTunes and their own website). And don't get me started on the bulletins.

 

Terribly buggy and slow. With all the graphics, videos, picture comments, video comments, music players, backgrounds etc, it makes myspace nearly impossible to use with an outdated computer. Even with a newer computer, it can slow down and crash. There was one bands page that literally froze my computer every single time I ever viewed it. I always wondered if ANYONE was able to view it.

 

My overall view-I think that it is one great tool to use among many tools.

[Booya Tribe]

I've always hated it and don't use it... but I can see why people do.

 

The interface is terrible. I have tried using it briefly in the past, but found it to be really buggy. I can't believe such a popular website which is probably raking in so much money could be so buggy.

 

I can understand the lure of the networking thing and at one time, it would have been useful for me (back then we only had email lists and message boards), but now promotion of my music doesn't really work that way.

 

I notice that people would rather go to a band's myspace than their actual website, but I can't stand it - they have taken all the creativity out of creating a web presence, and plastered ads all over it.

[CLOCK13]

I also do not like the whiny, self concious teenage girls.

[Wyltica]

I use MySpace only to check out bands I like and newer bands, and enjoy supporting local bands, as they are not mainstream music, and wouldn't get much attention on TV or on the Radio, I think MySpace can be a great tool for bands to get their music out there, I've found bunches of great bands. In these times you have to almost hunt for good music, by going to gigs and stuff, because everything on MTV and all that {censored} is mainly crap, sadly enough this is how it has ended.

 

I am a fan myself of the music part of MySpace, but the rest not at all. Therefore I control my privacy, it is also a good way of finding other people to jam with, sometimes you find drummers seeking band members on their personal myspace sites. By using the browse people tool.

 

The way the music industry is today, it is difficult for an artist to represent their own work as they want to without being abused by {censored}ty record labels with silly bosses who know nothing about music and only wanna sell them as a product for money. In another way, MySpace is the music industry's worst enemy. And MySpace is for free, you can put your own music there for free without having to pay any record label this or that, you have a bit more control but must obviously have good contacts out of MySpace to maybe get a deal one day.