Bands and fans singing a new tune on MySpace

Looking for a new band to call your own, or hoping to turn weekend jam sessions into a career?

Thanks to the emergence of MySpace.com and other social networking sites, the Web is becoming a giant audition stage where millions of fans lay in wait.

From weekend hacks to Grammy-winning acts, more than 600,000 bands are using MySpace to upload songs and videos, announce shows, promote albums and interact with fans.

“Bands are going to MySpace because it’s free and they don’t have to know how to do a Web site,” said Tom Anderson, the site’s 29-year-old co-founder and president. “But the biggest reason is because there are 43 million people on MySpace.”

The site’s astronomic growth since its fall 2003 launch — it’s adding 4 million users a month — has made MySpace a pop icon and a corporate darling. Last summer, media mogul Rupert Murdoch paid $580 million to acquire the site and its parent company, Intermix. MySpace has become the third most visited Web domain (Google is No. 1), started its own record label and premiered new releases by several high-profile artists, including Madonna, Neil Diamond and Nine Inch Nails.

“Every day it seems we hit these new milestones,” Anderson said.

This community is clickable
Anderson didn’t set out to create a music powerhouse. MySpace was conceived as a cyber community where people in the same city or on opposite ends of the Earth could meet and correspond — “a place for friends.” Anderson, a fan of independent bands, said he also recognized that the site could bridge the gap between musicians and fans.

“Part of the appeal (of MySpace) is that people aren’t here just for music, but casual fans can find it here,” Anderson said. “Bands themselves can reach out and find fans. It’s really opened up opportunities for bands to promote themselves.”

MySpace Music is the prime convergence point for bands and fans. Users can search for artists by name, genre, location or keyword. The section promotes new and well-established acts through exclusive content such as streaming audio and video. Audioslave, Weezer, Depeche Mode and other artists have previewed entire albums on the site ahead of their official release.

Social networking Web sites A sampling of sites that allow users to connect with each other and find music: Friendster — Meet cyber pals, blog, share photos, store contact information. MySpace — Create profiles, blog, chat, send messages, access music and videos. Pandora — Create streaming music playlists and discover “genetically” related artists. Pure Volume — Artists can upload songs, visitors can search for bands. TagWorld — Create, categorize and share personalized content. You Tube — Watch, share and embed video clips on MySpace and other sites.  Yahoo! 360° — Create online profiles, share photos, blog, connect with friends.

What sets MySpace and rival sites such as Friendster, TagWorld and Pure Volume apart from music giants MTV.com and Rollingstone.com is a blend of inclusiveness and interconnectivity. Any and all artists are welcome on MySpace, from Christian artists to death metal thrashers, and everything on the site is linked to something else. Click on a user’s image and you’re sent to a profile featuring pictures, blogs, personal interests and links to cyber pals and bands. Keep clicking and you’re sent to more profiles and search results. Bands can post concert listings, interact with MySpace users and make songs available for download or background music.

“Social networking is one of the best examples of what the Web can do: connect people, whether it’s at the micro level or the macro level, one-to-one or hundreds of thousands of people at once,” said Toby Lewis, editorial director at London-based Music Ally.

DIY promotional tool
Jonathan Buck, guitarist and lead singer for the Brooklyn indie rock group Coppermine, says his band’s profile on MySpace has drawn nearly 300,000 visitors. The band can instantly distribute messages and news to more than 115,000 MySpace users who have added Coppermine as a “friend” on their profile. Thanks to the broad reach of MySpace, Coppermine no longer has to flood radio stations with CDs or plaster concert posters around town.

“A MySpace profile is so efficient and so effective that it supplants a lot of that other stuff,” Buck said.

Likening MySpace to a big music festival, Buck says the site allows small bands to make a name for themselves without spending time and money on the menial tasks usually associated with band development.

“You go to a big rock show where a big band is headlining — say, Audioslave — and you’re there with CDs and posters, waiting in the rain to hand this stuff out to the crowd after the show. MySpace allows you to do that everyday, without spending any money,” he said.

‘... The best way to describe MySpace is that it proves the “Six Degrees of Separation” theory.’ — Nate Yeakel MySpace user

Coppermine’s fans aren’t the only ones following the band online. Buck said the band has been contacted by managers, promoters, music labels, Webzines, DJs and others “who definitely wouldn’t have heard us if not for MySpace.”

The site’s been a boon to music fans, as well.

“I mainly use the music section in MySpace to look for up-and-coming bands,” said Nate Yeakel, or “MastaNate,” as the 31-year-old Southern Californian punk fan is know to his friends on MySpace. “I’ve seen links to even the smallest of bands’ MySpace pages. When there, you can usually find a link to either their merchandise or their label support, which can also turn you onto more bands.

“I guess the best way to describe MySpace is that it proves the ‘Six Degrees of Separation’ theory.”

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