Reports of Myspace's demise may be premature

[JailTime]

I talked to the booking guy at one of the premier clubs in my town for my kind of music (original roots/altcountry), and he told me that he uses myspace to qualify/evaluate/get info on bands whom he is considering booking. He also said that "others" whom he knows booking bands use it often, too.

When I told him I was surprised to learn that, he didn't seem impressed. He was all like, "where've you been?" And I said, I was there 3 years ago, but have moved on and streamlined my own site.

We still have a page, and now I'm back to updating it, but I just don't like myspace that much anymore. But, I have to admit, it is a consistant way to quickly listen to and get a feel for a band if you've never heard them before. Facebook is not so easy, and many independant sights really, really suck. So I could imagine wanting a simple way to quickly hear a band's stuff.

Thoughts? or not.

[Ku'Yleh]

only the forward thinking "geeks" are crying teh demise of Myspace IMO. The non-"geek" world is still there.

Every show I book at a new venue these days, the first (or maybe second) thing they ask is, "whats your MySpace name/address?"

I provide CDs with live audio for them anyway,. but they liek to see what kind of image we are presenting....

[Primakurtz]

MySpace is becoming even bigger for music, while Facebook has taken over the teenage/soccer mom "chat about nothing" turf.

[zooLemon]

Myspace is the pit of the internet and I {censored}ing hate it, but if you're an original band you MUST have one. I prefer to direct people to our pages on Facebook and Bandcamp but the myspace is there and we still use it to set up shows.

 

It's pretty much the worst platform you can imagine from a musician or fan's perspective. By the time everybody else was leaving Myspace in droves for Facebook, musicians were already saddled with the expectation that you would have one, which is why we're stuck with it. NONE of our fans use myspace, it's just to communicate with other bands and promoters.

 

If you have a bandcamp page, there's actually some code you can use to get rid of the "official" myspace player and embed a higher-quality player from bandcamp instead.

[bassred]

A bar manager we used to deal with still wanted to see a big email list.... When I pointed out our Social Media outlets, he looked at me as if I were speaking Russian..

 

What I'm saying is to not trust the booking guys as the most up-to-date sources...

 

I am still updating ours and keeping it going as a source, I mean, hey... It's been a good free way to keep in touch with people.

[ggm1960]

As I've said in the past, myspace simply fills the void that was left by mp3.com (after they shot themselves in the foot in the late 90s) in that it's a centralized location for anyone with a musical presentation to park their stuff.

[Chip Stewart]

Myspace is still relevant in central New Jersey. Most of the bands I know have a Myspace page. Many of the venues will look at a Myspace page to hear music, as well as look at photos and videos. I use mine as a free electronic press kit. I have my original songs posted, photographs of me performing at various venues, photographs of my musical equipment (including PA), and a video of me performing live. Pretty much everything a venue needs to check me out. As an electronic press kit, it works very well.

[tlbonehead]

of course Myspace is relevent. I get a kick out of the people who try and state otherwise.