MySpace marketing is a tricky area to get right for musicians and bands. It’s very easy to waste time and effort pursuing new fans and listeners from across the internet without actually getting anywhere.
It’s hard to tell where MySpace is going and where it’s place will be in the next few years as inevitably the social networking landscape will evolve and develop further. Facebook and Twitter are arguably the most popular websites at the moment but with these two it’s quite difficult to accumulate new listeners on a large scale.
Unlike Facebook and Twitter, MySpace still allows you to send friend requests to people you don’t necessarily know and because of the nature of MySpace, people will likely accept. The only issue I see is that with millions of accounts on their system, there is a high chance that a lot of people no longer use their accounts preferring to use other social networks. This leaves musicians in a situation where they send 500 friend requests in a day and only 20 accept because you happened to have sent 480 requests to people who no longer use their accounts. When looking for new fans on MySpace, here are a few points to consider:
- You need to add people who are interested in your type of music. This helps you stand the best chance of gaining a new fan.
– You need to add people who actively use their MySpace accounts.
– The best scenario is to add people who are currently online or who have been online very recently. Chances are, if they are surfing the internet they may spend more time listening to your music.
So how do you send friend requests whilst covering all of these areas? Well, let’s say for example you are in a band that sounds like Green Day or Blink 182. What you need to do is visit their MySpace pages and select ‘View all of Green Day’s friends’. You’ll be taken to a page that lists all of their friends. Now if this band is popular, they will have hundreds of thousands of friends. Don’t worry, you’re not going to add them all.
What you need to do is select ‘New Friends’ from the drop-down menu at the top. You will then be presented with a list of 50 users who have recently added the band as a friend. By adding these users in particular you are targeting fans of your particular style of music whilst ensuring they are active MySpace users.
It’s worth having a list of 5 or 6 other bands similar to yours that you can do this with on a daily basis. Doing this alone should save you time and effort whilst ensuring your getting a decent return (in terms of friend numbers) for your efforts.
I was listening to Katherine Jenkin’s last album at about 2am last night. I’d heard she’d covered Evanescence’s ‘Bring Me to Life’ and I wanted to know if she killed it or not. To be honest, it wasn’t really killed it just sounded like the original with the band taken away. It’s a risky business trying to cover another track, particularly if it’s music from the last 10 years or incredibly well known. Some artists pull it off by completely changing the vibe and style of the track. Check out James Morrison’s cover of ‘Man in the Mirror’. On paper, it sounds like a vasectomy; in reality, it’s actually quite good and quite clever.
It’s no secret but my favourite band is Metallica. Listened to them for years and I know their music well. Today I had a browse around YouTube (always dangerous) for any covers of Metallica songs. There were some good ones from Disturbed and Nickelback (I know, I was shocked too), but they are just bands covering other bands. So, what happens when clueless record company execs try to be clever and force their talent show winners and social rejects to perform songs which quite frankly, they’ve probably never heard of?
I bring you the three of the most appalling pop covers of Metallica ever heard…
#3 – Avril Lavigne – Fuel
There are going to be some people who’ll moan and say that Avril Lavigne isn’t pop. She’s pop. When her lyrics are about boys, she sings out of tune (chorus of the song ‘Alice’) and she’s from the wrong half of North America (the Bryan Adams half), she’s pop. So here we have her cover of the song ‘Fuel’ performed at the MTV Icon award show. I love the way they’ve tuned the whole thing up a few keys so her emo neck doesn’t explode…
#2 – Aliqua – Nothing Else Matters
Whilst this lot can clearly sing, the instrumental arrangement makes the intro sound like music from Titanic. I’m afraid it’s a sinking ship from start to finish (oh ha ha). I’m sure I’ve seen these girls at the jewellery counter at John Lewis…
#1 – Stefanie Heinzmann – The Unforgiven
Hold me back! Hold me back! This cover version of the 1991 song ‘The Unforgiven’ is surely the most excruciating piece of musical sadomasochism ever recorded. The video has everything. Neon lights, ugly kids and the Man from Del Monte all around a wooden chair which presumably is their tribute to the original music video. Great. I would say I’m surprised that this was allowed to happen, but then I remember that Lars is in the band and probably thought this was ‘really cool’.
All I can say, is that it’s a pity their instruments weren’t plugged in on the second verse at 1:40. Have a listen and get ready for therapy.
I shall start by saying I get bored quite easily sometimes… So anyway, I’ve been looking through my phone today with a mixture of nostalgia and the hope of finding something ridiculous but possibly entertaining.
It seems that in the 21st century, we’ve become digital hoarders. I mean, the amount of junk I’ve found on my mobile phone is staggering including a series of photos that I took of myself from various angles whilst drinking. It’s not as bad as it sounds, it was mostly facial… although that doesn’t sound any better.
It wasn’t till I got to the sound clips folder on my phone that I found a true gem. My band played a gig in Brixton (and made it out alive) sometime in 2009 I think and I used my mobile to record the band that played after us for reasons you’ll discover upon hearing the clip I’ve posted. Like my mobile phone, there is a lot of junk out there in the world of music. A quick trawl through MySpace and you will hear some of the worst music has to offer. I always thought though, that these terrible bands never made it beyond ‘Bedroom mode’. A quick dodgy demo, rushed MySpace profile then a going of separate ways due to musical differences. Surely no live music promoter would EVER seriously consider putting one of these ‘bands’ on a stage?
It seems I was wrong. I have no idea what this band are called, but they are a 3-piece punk band. The bass player sang, the guitarist played something and the drummer tried his best. To give you an idea of how bad it was, in between each song, the bassist had to teach the guitarist what to play. Sitting open mouthed we were able to feast on the audible equivalent of Happy Meal minus the toy. I can’t really say anymore, except have a listen to this. Luckily for them the audience consisted of my band and the sound engineer. And to think we played BEFORE these guys!?
I’ve finally dragged my website into the 21st century by turning it into a blog, but you can still find out information about my work by using the links above.
I’ll probably be posting on the various musical occurrences that happen on my journey (attempt) at becoming a world-famous musician. Watch this space, it could get messy…
MySpace marketing is a tricky area to get right for musicians and bands. It’s very easy to waste time and effort pursuing new fans and listeners from across the internet without actually getting anywhere.
