One never knows what one will find in the offing when perusing MySpace. I probably shouldn’t be surprised by this, but lately for the first time I’m noticing that the Bulletins section is being used for announcements other than gigs, radio play information, and so on. This morning I found an ad for an apartment near a Chicago-based recording studio (“Musicians Welcome!”); a classic little black dress for sale; and an announcement from one comely young lass informing the world (our little corner of it, anyway) that she will “wash the breeding heap of socks” under her bed … tomorrow.
his is not to say the Bulletins are a waste of time. One day, amidst the announcements for shows, CDs and band merchandise, I stumbled upon a link from a DJ for a YouTube video that was of great nostalgic interest to me. It was a video of Spirit, the Brit band who gave us songs such as “Nature’s Way” and “I Got a Line On You” circa 1970:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBXsKw324qw
This video is from 1986, increasing my interest because, that very same year,...
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In the Event of an Event ...
We’ve discussed various ways to inform your contacts about your band, your recordings, upcoming gigs. But MySpace provides yet another way to get the word out: the Event. This option is located under the “More” tab on your MySpace profile screen. Place your cursor over the tab, select “Events” to open the Events home screen. MySpace Featured Events are displayed here, which may or may not be music-related. You also have the option of browsing existing events that have been created for the MySpace community by other members. Planning a trip, and want to find out what’s happening at your destination city? Enter the country and postal code. Looking for an activity for a specific date? Select the Start/End dates from the dropdown menu.
Now, let’s get up close and personal, with events relating to you and your profile. At the left side of the screen is the following menu:
Each of these is self-explanatory, and the middle two are particularly welcome to those of us who tend to maintain multiple reminder lists and...
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January is a relatively quiet month. The holidays are over, people are returning to business as usual. There’s not always a lot going on at this time, and that goes for the music world, as well. Many musicians find themselves with a relaxed schedule of upcoming events, not a lot of activity with future recordings, and so on. This is the perfect time to share news from some of your MySpace Friends. With that in mind, I took advantage of the blogging tool today to inform my connections about a bit o’ news regarding my Austin-based pals The Victor Mourning (http://myspace.com/thevictormourning). This relatively new band is quickly m (read more)
Can MySpace help make you a household name? It couldn’t hurt! That MySpace Music is one level playing field … where else could a humble singer songwriter such as yours truly find herself discussing motion picture soundtrack production with the brilliant Michael Nyman, or swapping Comments with the Sir Douglas Quintet? MySpace Music even allows me the chance to embrace my inner teenybopper: one of my friends was a heavy-duty crush during my wonder years, none other than ex-Monkee Peter Tork. (I can’t describe how over-the-moon I would’ve been had this been possible at the height of the Monkees’ heyday – I daresay the decibels of the resulting teen squealing would’ve redirected a glacier or two.)
But MySpace is all about getting the name out there, right? The perfect place to hear and be heard. I’ve already touched upon the joys of surfing and discovering new music. Another way to expand your circle is to connect with performers with whom you share a gig. I’ve done this myself, as well as had others contact me. Connecting after the gig is fine, but connecting before the gig...
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Beside Myself
Earlier today, I received a message from a MySpace Friend, informing me she noticed in her Friends Updates section that “Pamela Richardson is now friends with Pamela Richardson, thanks to the MySpace Friend Finder tool.” I responded that I was relieved to hear this, having had a falling out with myself soon after the holidays and wondering whether attempts to patch things up had been successful. My Friend and I bantered a bit more, then I decided to get to the bottom of this, as it were, and have a look for myself. I opened my companion page, the MySpace profile for my band, The Pralines (http://myspace.com/thepralines); sure enough, there it was, the joyous news that I had, in a manner of speaking, found myself. I clicked on “Friend Finder,” which turned out to be a link to a MySpace Invite page – a handy little recruitment tool divided into three sections:
When opened, the page defaults to the first of these tabs – a method of browsing your personal...
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