But does MySpace consider this spamming or is this acceptable? Is it acceptable only from a band? Can a dry cleaners send emails to anyone in its zip code about its services?

You can't email these people to their email inboxes. You can send messages to their myspace inboxes, though. And anyone can do it. Myspace doesn't stop it. All you have to do is get people to become friends with you.

Hi Peter - I was wanting to introduce myself directly - but I just saw this post and couldn't let it go by without a response, as I find MySpace to not be revolutionizing anything with music.

My perspective comes from running a music hosting service since 2000, and providing support and services to over 13,000 artists and fans. http://www.ArtistServer.com
- which was also listed as one of the "Top 20 Music Sites" along with MySpace in the November issue of Time Magazine: http://www.time.com/time/2005/onlinemusic/4.html


The promotional method you quoted has been going on since the original mp3.com back in 1999. While they didn't expose things like 'age or sex' on searches, you could focus on city and genre to find your target audience. While it may be new to some, it's something you've been able to do at most music sites for years.

One of the issues I'm seeing with MySpace, is the watering down of the terms 'friend' and 'fan.' The author of that article quoted the following:

[quote] "If you just throw a MySpace page up and make some friends, you've got 20 percent more fans than when you started," [/quote]

Are they really 'fans' - are they really 'friends?' You need to wonder when a search in Craigslist turns up bands offering money for friend signups - and friend building services like these:

http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/muc/138274306.html


http://www.friendblaster.com/index.html


Here's one I found on Craigslist last January:

=================
[quote] We only have about 1300 friends now and are interested in crossing 10,000 before March.

Your job will be to log in to our MySpace account, go through other San Diego bands and groups friend lists, and send add requests to every single person. Most of these will be accepted, and consequentially, you will be paid between 3 and 5 cents PER FRIEND, depending on how fast and effectively you get the job done.[/quote]
=================

Is this revolutionary? It sounds like trading one evil (Payola) for another (purchased friends/fans).

Let's look a little further into how great of a service MySpace is for bands...

[quote] In its two years of existence, MySpace has also become the leading Internet site for musicians - both established and undiscovered - to promote their craft.[/quote]

And what happens when a band is featured on the 'leading Internet site for musicians'?

http://www.scottandrew.com/blog/archives/2005/11/overexposed.html


the summary of the above link is this:

* number of times their music was played: around 20,000
* number of MySpace friend requests: 1200
* number of mailing list signups: over 100
* number of CDs sold: ZERO


In conclusion, there are at least 25 music hosting services for indie/unsigned artists. While none of them have the traffic levels of MySpace, most are as good or better solutions for indie music. I'm currently researching the top sites and presenting them online here: http://www.musichostingservices.com/
The tables are not done yet, but I should have the research in soon and posted online in the next 2 weeks.

Sorry to hammer on this post so hard :) - it's just that "revolution" and "music" are very important to me.

Peter, if you want to talk about Music sites, I'm always available, and I'd love the opportunity to tell you more about what ArtistServer.com is about, what it offers, and what some of my plans are.

- Gideon Marken
http://www.ArtistServer.com

Gideon,

I read your blog quite closely and admire what you are doing.

Myspace provides a DIY direct marketing tool for bands. But, the effectiveness certainly varies.

Any band I've met and spoken to - laughs when I ask them if they have a myspace profile. It's almost as important as a microphone. But, you are right. Bands need to use it the right way and still build 1 on 1 relationships with true fans.

I'd be glad to interview you about ArtistServer. Shoot me an email at pcaputa at whizspark dot com.

I spaced :) I forgot you are over here now too.

Thank you for the compliments, It's so nice to be heard and acknowledged :)

As far as the importance of being on there, I can understand that from a certain perspective - where 'not' being on there you'd miss out on what's going on over there. But, I'm wondering at the same time, is it worth a band's time to invest their marketing and promotional efforts on building their friend list at MySpace when the concept of adding a friend has lost it's meaning.

Then again, I have 'investment envy' and MySpace is an easy target. MySpace started off w/ some capital, and scored a massive buyout, while I'm working here alone trying to compete with zero startup capital and two servers. :) Ah... good times!

An interview :) That would be so kind! I'll send off an email - or maybe you have Skype?

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