Is MySpace still important for musicians?

Is MySpace still as effective and as essential for musicians as it was a few years back?

My honest answer is ‘yes’. I think it has passed its most dominant moment, but I actually do think it’s now more important than ever in the part that it plays in your career and promotion of that career. How can that be if its moment has passed?

Well, that’s because MySpace is no longer the hot new thing but has become the establishment. Odd, because it has happened so fast. But now, you absolutely have to have a MySpace page, as it is the first place that every day folk and the music industry guys go to find out about a new band. A few years ago a MySpace page was an option and made you look cutting edge. Now, if you haven’t got one, you aren’t going to get found. But, this is probably preaching to the converted! If you are web savvy enough to be looking up our Blog, you’re going to know that MySpace is your first calling card in the online presence stakes.

There are a multitude of social networking sites currently available to you and chances are, if you’re reading this, that you will have heard of, or have a profile on, several more of these. However, despite this, if you are a musician, people will always ask you if you have a MySpace. Why is MySpace so important to the aspiring musician?

MySpace has undergone a lot of changes within the past few years, changes that are continually making the site more beneficial to those currently in the music industry, or wanting to get into the music industry. With the launch of MySpace Music at the end of last year we are now definitely seeing a shift from ‘MySpace: a place for friends’, to ‘MySpace: a place for music’.

One of the main reasons that MySpace is so important is that, when used properly, it basically acts as a one-stop shop. You can direct people to your profile page to listen to your songs, look at pictures and read a brief bio of you, before sending them on to your website for more detailed information if they are interested in you. In this way MySpace is acting as a kind of electronic press kit for you, taking away the need to make demos CDs and print out endless press packs to send to record companies in today’s beleaguered industry.

Having a MySpace page also makes it easier to be a DIY musician. The ability to make contacts on MySpace is obviously amazing and the possibilities are practically endless. Anyone and everyone you could ever need to help you record and release your music are literally just a click away!

By making sure that your site is optimised, user friendly, eye catching and informative and the songs you have available are as good as they can possibly be, then you are pretty much guaranteeing that the next time someone stumbles across you page, whether they’re looking for a new act to sign, or just looking for a new band to be a fan of, they’re going to stick around and see what you’re like.

If you are prepared to use it properly then MySpace is a quick and easy way to get yourself into the public consciousness, but it is by no means a guaranteed way to turn yourself into a multi-million selling artist, especially in today’s market. For you to do that will take a lot of hard work, both on and off MySpace. However, there are things you can be doing with your MySpace profile to make sure that, out of the millions of artists and musicians who currently use MySpace worldwide, you are among the handful that people sit up and take notice of. We’ll look at what those things are as often as we can on this Blog.

As we move forward it’s clear that you’ll need to control a presence on many sites (Twitter and Facebook in particular) and on your own site, as well as your MySpace page and that will be just one place that fans can connect with you. However, we aren’t there yet and for now your profile on this most important of Web 2.0 sites is key to your success.

Don’t listen to anyone who says it’s over. They haven’t got a clue.

We, as a management company check out bands every day on MySpace and you can bet everybody else in the game does that too. It’s a default setting!

Make it a cool, interesting and ever changing destination for your fans and it will pay massive dividends.

You can learn more about why MySpace is so important to your music career in our book – Make It On MySpace.