Having a billion myspace friends: Really that great?

  • Thread starter Thread starter antispatula
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I agree w/ dj, and would like to further that line of thought for you a bit...

There are over 6,000,000,000 people on earth. That's a sh*tload, in case you can't tell. Now think of 1,000 people in a room. That's a good-sized crowd. 1,000 old, young, smart, stupid, hispanic, white, black, short, tall, rich, poor, etc. people. Now if you play your band's music for them, the chances are extremely high at least one person will like it enough to buy your CD, or at least come to a show. Now take that 1/1,000 and apply it to the whole world. That's 6 MILLION fans man. If each of them made you $1, that'd be 6 MILLION DOLLARS. These numbers are a fact. Now, add in the consideration that a good many of the people on myspace are there with the specific intent of finding new music, and the fact that you can search for and add people based on what kind of music they like, where they live, what other bands they're friends with, etc. and your chances of a sale/fan go up significantly. Myspace contains nearly every remotely mainstream band's target market.

So yes, it matters a sh*tload how many friends you have, how many plays you get, etc. But the bands that really succeed are the ones that take it to the next level and comment/message/ just f***ing talk to every single person that makes any sort of communication with them, and do it honestly. Tell them their taste in music is sweet, or their picture made you laugh, or you wish you could play their state, etc. etc. Looking huge is only the first part of the 'big picture', but it is a major one. If you look huge, people will think you're huge. They'll wonder why they haven't heard of you before. If you talk to them, many will think you're a huge band that took the time to talk to their fans, which makes them relate to you and come to your shows, etc.

Anyway, I'm ranting here, but a good band can use myspace to get quite far up the success ladder if used correctly.
 
Yea, it's not stupid to use myspace to get popular, but I agree that it can be relied on so heavily to the point that other aspects can suffer, like all they do is post on myspace and they never play or write or walk around with flyers to smell some fresh air.

The more people that know you exsist, the more fans you have. Any publicity is good, and myspace is very cheap, costing only time and internet connectivity (which most people already have). It also has a huge following. I don't like it much, but I use it because I have many friends who completely abandoned email in favor of myspace.

I used to talk down a lot of things and people who did things that I would consider 'uncool' but I have sorted garbage at a recycling plant for minimum wage before (at 16 years old) so I really cant say anything about anyone making a buck doing something more rewarding that sorting paper and cardboard.

If I ever find the time to write some more music and take it seriously, I'm sure I'll spend a little time pumping up my myspace friends, too, but I won't overdo it to the point that I don't play shows or place newspaper ads.
 
Exactly, it is really easy to rely on it or get stuck in a "myspace rut". You've gotta use it as an additional marketing/promotional tool, instead of a way to run your entire band. Their messaging is great to establish contact with a bunch of promoters/venues/etc., but to really run a band you've gotta use real email, real phones, and talk to real people in real places!
 
I personally dislike myspace, but have one anyways, because of contacts of mine that have one and would like me to add them as a friend. Nice sized local contacts. Anyways, I've been forced to deny damn near everyone that requests me as a friend, and that number has been going plenty. It is a good tool to market with, but should never be the only tool you market with, unless that's all you know, and that's all you want.

Now a days, when I ask for someone's number to contact them, I usually get a myspace url with it :rolleyes: but hey, I guess his name is Tom, created something that became so popular, and is becoming second nature to everyone who loves it, go him.

I'm going to go create a www.yourspace.com instead.
 
I wish I could remember who said Even bad publicity is good just as long as they spell my name right. It's all marketing. Hell, Britney Spears became a star and she can't sing worth a damn. I can't see any A&R guy thinking this chick any good. Her voice was flat and the material was not that good. Only my opinion. I think myspace is a good thing. I've found lots of good music (and a lot of bad) It's only a tool. A small tool. You got to have the talent to back it up. A good indie artist will benefit from a lot of myspace friends. Here is one of my new favorites http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=21753099
She is from Denmark where she put out 2 CD's. She now has a world wide release but not that know in the US. She is the real deal singer, songwriter. Anyway myspace has become a necessary evil.
 
steve.h said:
I agree w/ dj, and would like to further that line of thought for you a bit...

There are over 6,000,000,000 people on earth. That's a sh*tload, in case you can't tell. Now think of 1,000 people in a room. That's a good-sized crowd. 1,000 old, young, smart, stupid, hispanic, white, black, short, tall, rich, poor, etc. people. Now if you play your band's music for them, the chances are extremely high at least one person will like it enough to buy your CD, or at least come to a show. Now take that 1/1,000 and apply it to the whole world. That's 6 MILLION fans man. If each of them made you $1, that'd be 6 MILLION DOLLARS. These numbers are a fact. Now, add in the consideration that a good many of the people on myspace are there with the specific intent of finding new music, and the fact that you can search for and add people based on what kind of music they like, where they live, what other bands they're friends with, etc. and your chances of a sale/fan go up significantly. Myspace contains nearly every remotely mainstream band's target market.

So yes, it matters a sh*tload how many friends you have, how many plays you get, etc. But the bands that really succeed are the ones that take it to the next level and comment/message/ just f***ing talk to every single person that makes any sort of communication with them, and do it honestly. Tell them their taste in music is sweet, or their picture made you laugh, or you wish you could play their state, etc. etc. Looking huge is only the first part of the 'big picture', but it is a major one. If you look huge, people will think you're huge. They'll wonder why they haven't heard of you before. If you talk to them, many will think you're a huge band that took the time to talk to their fans, which makes them relate to you and come to your shows, etc.

Anyway, I'm ranting here, but a good band can use myspace to get quite far up the success ladder if used correctly.
Click to expand...


Very interesting suggestions.

;)
 
My former band had over 5,000 friends on myspace. I'd say 40 percent of those friends actually cared. The reason why I personally like having a lot of friends on myspace is because:

In my studies, 40 percent listened to the music before they accepted us as friends, and 50 percent of that 40 actually liked the music.

The more I add, the better the chance I have of making more fans.

Right now I'm in the middle of going from a band, to a solo artist. It's going to be a tough change and I'm going to have to start getting friends on myspace all over again....but I learned a lot of things since I started out on myspace and this time should go MUCH better than the first.
 
The success ladder is long. myspace will only bring you up maybe 1 or 2 steps closer to the top, but yet so far.
 
Agreed, but it definitely depends on how you define "success". For me, "success" is having hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people interested in what you're doing and what you're going to do next. Myspace is a really great way to start you down that line.

There has been no other time in history that you've been able to, without getting off your ass or making a phone call, get in touch with millions of people who offer their demographic data to you in a simple, search-able database and just waiting for you to make contact. The game has changed in just the last five years. This is in large part due to myspace.

Roll back the clock 10-20 years ago, how did you discover new music? MTV, Radio, word of mouth, and tape/cd traders. Sometimes all you had to go on was the last 30 seconds of some tape in some random kid's car, and maybe a name. Fast forward to today, within 30 seconds of surfing to a band's myspace, you know how they sound, how long they've been around, the names of the members of the band, how they look, when they're coming to your town, how many fans they have, and many times even how their live show looks/sounds. You can know 80-90% of all there is to know about a band just by looking at their frickin' myspace for a minute or two! This is why the game has changed. Labels don't have to take risks anymore. Before they even pick up the phone to call you, they know everything about you. Sure, they'll still schedule a live showcase just to catch you live, but they've already got a good synopsis.

Here's the best part, in many cases Myspace has become your first impression!! And you have FULL CONTROL over that first impression! That's a ridiculous amount of power. You can decide how people view your band, and you can decide what image you want to convey down to the pixel. Put just your good songs on your myspace, put just the best live footage: hell, make your own live video! Your local wal-mart carries everything you need for frickin' cheap to do it anyway.

On top of all of this, once you've got your own little stockpile of friends (say 5,000+), you can test-market your new music before trying to release it to the world. And you can get direct, near-instant feedback just by uploading an mp3. No phone calls, no arranging listening meetings, no expensive showcases, just upload an mp3 and post a bulletin. Five minutes after you hit "stop" on your DAW, you get to find out what people think of it. It's ridiculous.


All of that said, all of this power can't make up for good song-writing and a sweet live show. Putting feet on the ground and making phone calls is much, MUCH more personal, and should still be your bread and butter as it were. Get off your ass and practice the guitar a bit, write some good songs, and play some shows. And not just at your local coffee bar. Figure out a band that draws in a different city/state (which is where myspace comes in again!), get in contact with them, set up a show, and make the best impression you can. Then do it a couple hundred times and call me in the morning.

Basically, myspace makes the super-tedious stuff much easier (finding bands, promoters, etc.). You shouldn't be using it as a central command, because there's simply very little organization when it comes to communication. You need to be using Gmail for actually keeping in contact over the internet, you need a cell phone with a decent instant-message plan, and you need to get off your ass and go play some places, talk to some people. Get some good-looking original merch too. You'll never make any money doing anything but selling merch. Shows sometimes pay for some gas. Merch very quickly pays for itself, and then starts paying you (or the band, anyway)...

Anyway, I'm getting off-topic here. I feel like I should just write a "how-to" for this stuff haha
 
The reason she has so many hits is because of her tits. They're nice, eh! You lika da tits? The tits is good, eh?
 
Thank god you found such an important reason to bring this thread up from the dead haha
 
well i got about 1500 friends, and most of them are either aspiring artist/producers i met off other boards, potential fans from other boards, and probably a few artists that gave me some semi-mentioring at one point or another.....

and of course you got all the fake magazine entities and other "non-performing" aspects of the industry, a few promo-teams, entertainment lawyers, public relation firms.... you know the typical B.S.

now do i consider them great, well my top 40 is filled with mostly people i knew b4 myspace including younger cousins, my team, and a few ladies who i kept around for longer than a "smash and dash" session......

but in all honesty, the more people i added, have only seemed to take me accepting their requests as another outlet to spam my page up with their shitty mixtape promo's and other bullshit, but they don't even have the decency to leave feedback when requested or even just to give a causual "whats up"

i know i was gettin into the thousands as far as plays at one point due to passing out bizness-cards and other promo material at random, but having tons of people on ya friendslist doesnt garuntee you getting any recognition for ya music, it makes me think a person is more desperate for attention than anything else....
 
Look, I think everyone is wayyyyyy overthinking the Myspace thing. Music marketing people use it as an element of today's music marketing mix but nothing more! Sure we've heard of these acts being "made" or getting their deals via Myspace, but most of that is just the work of sneaky PR. Big labels have their online promo people working this stuff, launching most bands with co-branding and placement deals. But once the design is set and the bots are out in force, things are pretty much on autopilot. They're looking at the stats, updating it, not tinkering with comments or "browsing" fans, that's for sure.
 
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