Members Bassjunkie99 Posted January 12, 2009 Members Share Posted January 12, 2009 I've heard mixed reviews from programs like Friend Blaster, etc. It seems like a much faster route to increasing the friend count for a band, but I have heard of accounts being permanently suspended for use of such programs. Anyone have any first hand experience with any of these programs? It would be nice to increase the count with a significantly reduced amount of effort, but losing the account and starting from scratch is not an option. Is there any certain amount of request per day that causes a red flag? Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Poker99 Posted January 12, 2009 Members Share Posted January 12, 2009 Under 400 a day you shoudn't have any problem. I just use the unregistered version, which is limited to 50 friend requests a day. Everybody is doing it so... Its kind of useless anyway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members richardmac Posted January 12, 2009 Members Share Posted January 12, 2009 I think the days of anyone being impessed by number of friends in myspace are gone. People who know what they're talking about will look at the number of plays of the tracks posted, not the number of friends. 2,500 friends and 15 plays means either you just put the song up, or you don't have real actual friends, just totally inflated numbers. And the odds of gaining real actual fans using this blitz technique are minimal. Most of the marketing music online gurus will tell you that you should only add myspace friends who are either real fans or have shown an honest interest in your music. It's better to have 200 friends who actually care than 2,000 who don't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tjsutton Posted January 12, 2009 Members Share Posted January 12, 2009 I think the days of anyone being impessed by number of friends in myspace are gone. People who know what they're talking about will look at the number of plays of the tracks posted, not the number of friends. 2,500 friends and 15 plays means either you just put the song up, or you don't have real actual friends, just totally inflated numbers. And the odds of gaining real actual fans using this blitz technique are minimal.Most of the marketing music online gurus will tell you that you should only add myspace friends who are either real fans or have shown an honest interest in your music. It's better to have 200 friends who actually care than 2,000 who don't. +1 I'd say the same goes for a regular fan base as well... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bassjunkie99 Posted January 12, 2009 Author Members Share Posted January 12, 2009 People who know what they're talking about will look at the number of plays of the tracks posted, not the number of friends I definitely agree, but stimulating traffic to the page in turn generates plays, so it's killing two birds with one stone in a sense. I realize a Myspace friend count does not equate to a legitimate fan base by a long shot, but I do think it's one of the necessary steps in looking the part of a growing local / regional band who is making a buzz. Interestingly enough, some other sites (Reverbnation in particular) actually draw from Myspace to calculate total number of fans. When we've manually done friend requests in the past, we targeted people in the areas where we play frequently, not just all out blitzing people all over the world.....With any program, we would continue the same practices, but I guess the old fashioned way is the safest route. But if someone has had positive experience with these, feel free to speak up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BlueStrat Posted January 12, 2009 Members Share Posted January 12, 2009 looking the part of a growing local / regional band who is making a buzz. Or you could just do it the old fashioned way and actually become one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bassjunkie99 Posted January 12, 2009 Author Members Share Posted January 12, 2009 Or you could just do it the old fashioned way and actually become one. I had a feeling that would insight a smart-ass response from someone like yourself. We've been doing this for some time the 'old fashioned way,' and we have a healthy fan base. When I said "looking the part," I was referring to ensuring that our professional appearance reflects who we are and where we are trying to go as band, whether it be Myspace, the official website, our press kit, or any other promotional tool. We want to put our best foot forward on any front which may come in to play for future booking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BlueStrat Posted January 12, 2009 Members Share Posted January 12, 2009 We want to put our best foot forward on any front which may come in to play for future booking. By spambotting Myspace? Good luck with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bassjunkie99 Posted January 12, 2009 Author Members Share Posted January 12, 2009 By spambotting Myspace? Good luck with that. First of all, we have never used any bots for Myspace. I came here looking for any insight people may have on these programs, not to get in a pissing contest with a disgruntled musicians like yourself. No one books through Myspace, so sending large amounts of friend requests would not have any implication on those professional relationships. We just want to get our music out there for as many people as we can, and Myspace happens to be an avenue for us to do just that, along with hopefully in turn representing us as a band who is serious about what they are doing. Thanks to those with thoughtful responses in this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members hubberjub Posted January 12, 2009 Members Share Posted January 12, 2009 I love seeing a band that no one has heard of that never gigs have 10,000+ friends. We've spent the last three years accumulating just over 3,000 people without using any software. If you really want useful promotion you should play out as much as possible and giving out demo CDs and stickers does wonders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BlueStrat Posted January 13, 2009 Members Share Posted January 13, 2009 I love seeing a band that no one has heard of that never gigs have 10,000+ friends. We've spent the last three years accumulating just over 3,000 people without using any software. If you really want useful promotion you should play out as much as possible and giving out demo CDs and stickers does wonders.\ Are you disgruntled too? Where can we get regruntled? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members richardmac Posted January 13, 2009 Members Share Posted January 13, 2009 \ Are you disgruntled too? Where can we get regruntled? I've heard you have to go to Mexico for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members HKSblade1 Posted January 13, 2009 Members Share Posted January 13, 2009 I wish I had a dime for every band that thought their friend count equated to success while having low plays. Come on! All these guys in every forum send friend requests etc and never listen to the other band's stuff most of the time. This is one major flaw in myspace recognition value or worth to a group. Just as devaluing as not placing value in the music production itself. That just equates potentially successful musicians with great music to ones on the lowest scale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Poker99 Posted January 13, 2009 Members Share Posted January 13, 2009 MySpace can be useful when you are a local band, cause you can add people from your area quite fast. At least they hear the name of the band lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members primeelite Posted January 13, 2009 Members Share Posted January 13, 2009 If used right these things can help supplement your digital marketing campaigns. If used wrong they can hurt your bands name and make your band's profile get deleted. These are becoming more and more outdated as people on myspace will just deny your request or hit spam button. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Poker99 Posted January 13, 2009 Members Share Posted January 13, 2009 MySpace as a whole is getting outdated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted January 13, 2009 Moderators Share Posted January 13, 2009 MySpace as a whole is getting outdated. actually, oversaturated. They should have gotten smart early on and split it up...Band Space, Fan Space, Commercial Space, etc...it really is just a microcosm of the entire internet now...a small swamp in a larger swamp... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members primeelite Posted January 13, 2009 Members Share Posted January 13, 2009 I don't think myspace will ever go away, at least not for awhile. It is becoming less and less relevant as Facebook has more regular people on it and myspace is becoming bands, companies, and a few normal people. I think more than ever bands are going to have to use alternate ways to gain a fanbase or more less get back to the old ways bands used to do it. The days of playing as many small gigs as you can are back as well as blog marketing is huge now as my company is doing it for a few major labels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members marileemusic Posted January 14, 2009 Members Share Posted January 14, 2009 I think the thing to remember is what is your goal w/ the bot? I do think it works well to help promote shows to existing fans by directly sending them a message in their inbox...more likely to pay attention to it. As far as increasing your plays and your overall fanbase try the following... Make a list of artists who are similiar to you but have more fans > 10,000 if they happened to live near you, great but if your main goal is to get plays then it doesn't matter (if you don't know where to look, go to Pandora.com or use the Amazon.com feature 'people who purchased x also liked y'). Anyhow, get on their myspace artist pages. Gather ID's from the artist's comment pages. These are the people who have bothered to take the time to connect with that particular artist. Send a message like, "Hey I see you are a fan of so and so, My name is ___ and I think you would like my music. Here is a link to my page. Would love to know your opinion". The people that write you back or leave a new comment or add you (any kind of forward communication) these are your potential new fans. Follow up with them thanking them for visiting your site and give them the direct link to where they can purchase your album or where they can sign up to recieve your newsletters. I do know an artist who uses the bot and knows the implications of how to get more people to shows and increase downloads. Supposedly he said he makes over $2000 a month just from downloads off his myspace page using the bot. He also makes sure that he is constantly adding new content to his page as well. one tip...only send messages to 350 or under a day or your account WILL get deleted. I would also recommend getting a copy of the online book by Nick Jag called "Myspace Marketing" it costs like $6 and is worth every penny. He also wrote a book about Facebook Marketing and supposedly a lot people are now using Facebook instead of Myspace to find new music. The other nice thing about Facebook is if you happened to have a Reverbnation account (which everyone should because of all the cool applications/tools), you can get the MY BAND app on Facebook and put your whole Reverbnation page on Facebook which helps us from having to add stuff twice to each. There are lots of little things you can do to increase traffic and interest in your myspace page but it does take some energy and time to do it and you do have to have some regular upkeep with your feedback to folks. One LAST tip...anyone trying to get you to buy a friend adder is basically going to add you to a whore train and that is a waste of time (usually all fake profile adds that amounts to time and money wasted). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MusicGuy101 Posted January 14, 2009 Members Share Posted January 14, 2009 We add the old fashion way and have been able to make cool contacts in the process, build up a few fans, and sell a few digital albums we would have never sold if it wasn't for adding friends so I imagine if there was a program that wouldn't get you banned, it would be a good tool to aid. Either way, you'd have to filter out 100 random people who don't listen to the stuff to the 1 that will keep listening, sign up to the blog, and maybe buy a few tunes so might as well crank up the incoming 'friends'. I'm for it but sorry, can't help you or point you to any. We still go manual on this and focus on cities we plan to play at in the coming months. Also, a lot of contacts we've spoen to often ask 'so where's your MySpace', or 'email us your MySpace' over a band website even. I think it's a pretty standard tool bands should have, and up to date. I have no proof of it, but I'm sure psycologically, the more friends and plays you have, the better you look, even to the people that know how it all works. Worse case, they know you know first impression is important and those numbers might matter to the new people visiting your page. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 5THSINGER Posted January 14, 2009 Members Share Posted January 14, 2009 I personally HATE these "cheater programs". It really pisses me off to see bands use these thing's to artifically inflate they're number of hit's. If you can't do it "honest" don't do it at all!!! I see your from the same area as me...there is a band from the Raliegh area that has one of these programs on they're myspace page. If you go to their page they have like 14,000 by mid-afternoon...more than Nickleback & Disturbed etc. etc. etc., yet they can't draw 100 people to a show in their backyard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Phait Posted January 14, 2009 Members Share Posted January 14, 2009 I don't add anyone, I let 'em add me. For whatever reason. /shrug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ermghoti II Posted January 14, 2009 Members Share Posted January 14, 2009 \ Are you disgruntled too? Where can we get regruntled? I was gruntled once. It hurts almost as much as you'd imagine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Screaming Stone Posted January 15, 2009 Members Share Posted January 15, 2009 actually, oversaturated. They should have gotten smart early on and split it up...Band Space, Fan Space, Commercial Space, etc...it really is just a microcosm of the entire internet now...a small swamp in a larger swamp... Why do people treat their myspace page like a website - embedding every widget they can find so the page takes forever to load and looks more like a dump than part of a swamp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kramerguy Posted January 15, 2009 Members Share Posted January 15, 2009 I try to add only people I personally admire (bands), and bands / people / fans I have networked with, or at least people who can say "hey remember me from HC"... I think I have a total of 52 friends lol. No point artificially inflating your friend count, you still won't get 10 people to show up to a gig doing that, I guarantee it. Myspace is a tool, nothing more, nothing less. A fantastic tool in the hands of a master of their craft, and nothing more than a blunt object for bashing things in the hands of an unskilled user. (edit)One thing to add. Myspace does seem to have replaced "press kits" for the smaller venues and bars. Most would rather just check out audio and video from your page than deal with clunky disc's and flyers (not the larger venues or promoters though). Im sure facebook or having your own domain with the same info is just as good too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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