On Demand
The MySpace Debate
The popular social networking website has always been a place for small bands to reach out to fans and in many cases, achieve success. But the website is now owned by Ruphert Murdoch and when it launched its online music store last month it left the indies out. In the first of a four-smackdown series on music buying, we'll debate MySpace. Joining us is Erick Schonfeld, co-editor of Techcrunch.com, and Farhad Manjoo, technology columnist of Slate.com.
Soundcheck Blog: John Schaefer on MySpace
Next up in the series: iTunes, Wal-Mart, and then the iPod versus Zune.
MySpace Music
Farhad Manjoo on MySpace
TechCrunch's coverage of MySpace music
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I am surprised that many people haven’t found the slew of blogs that offer entire albums, (and sometimes entire band catalogs) for download via rapidshare, megaupload and other services. These blog sites far surpass myspace because serious music listeners tend to post their collections, from obscure indie bands to major label acts. For example, if you do a blog search on the name of band you like with the term rapidshare or megaupload, you can find page after page of similar acts or similarly good (or bad) acts.
Myspace WAS the future of music, until they decided to collaborate with major record labels. Myspace had a great alternative distribution channel for low resource producers. Myspace could have leveraged this resource into an entirely new product. Now... I rather doubt it.
I like to use MySpace as a quick and easy tool when I plan what shows I go to. I like to pick a few shows that look interesting, then go onto MySpace and visit each band and listen a little to the songs they have on their site and use that to choose which shows I go too. I think its great!
I'm 50 years old & love indie music. my space is the only place I know of to hear a complete song on the internet (if the group doesn't have a site with songs.) yesterday I read about "department of eagles" in the NYTimes, listened to them on my space & bought their album on amazon.
the new music idea I think is kind of annoying because before we were able to just click add and boom there it was on our profile and now its gotten a lil bit more complicated than that
so let me get this straight,
the music is supposed to be a giveaway and musicians have to make a living of the merch. they sell.
seems backwards.
I had a friend who was planning a wedding in CA from here in NYC. She found, auditioned, then contacted and booked a band she found by CA-area-searching on MySpace.
I've been on there for years and it's become a common currency in networking, show-booking, etc. I certainly wouldn't look at it as a golden ticket to fame and fortune, but a great tool for independent musicians.
myspace/JoanHutcheson.com
myspace has really helped me find a lot of music that i really love now. looking at the "top friends" of a band that you really enjoy helps to introduce fans to similar genres and i've always liked myspace for that.
however, looking at their new music format has turned me off in a sense- the simplicity was nice and i think that the new version is a bit overdone.
if you want to sample new music, there's always the Hype Machine (http://hypem.com), which aggregates thousands of music blogs. if it's worth discussing, some blogger's already written about it and shared a track.
ReverbNation: What do you think about it--for promotions (e-mail signup, etc) as well as its music platform.
My professor blogs for the Harvard Business Review and recently posted about this very issue. Myspace was a great place for up and coming musicians to promote themselves and get noticed, but now those who actually would benefit from the service have a much harder time doing so.
His blog can be found here:
http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/silverman/
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