For better or for worse, MySpace has become a booker's best tool to cull new bands. While MySpace has been championed as the darling of the social network movement and user-generated content, less emphasis has been made about how it essentially redefined the way bands manage their online presence. Sure, the social network aspects provided an unprecedented way to easily manage, cultivate and grow a fanbase, but I think even more significant was the basic turnkey tools of a MySpace artist page which provided bands with utilities that, before its advent, required a web designers' talents to integrate into their own website.
In the past, you bought your domain and THEN pumped in the content (song files, picture galleries, tour dates, news and email sign-ups). Your domain was everything -- it was your little off-ramp on the Information Superhighway that would deliver your fans directly to you. Today, you start a MySpace page, pump content into it, THEN buy the domain and build the website (or redirect it to your MySpace page). MySpace essentially compressed the learning curve for getting online so effectively that anyone (even a musician!) could figure it out, and in the process completely leapfrogged the value of having your own domain/website which had always been Step One in the Internet 101 Playbook of the 90's.
While viewing MySpace band profiles, listening to songs, checking out show dates, I sometimes wondered what exactly some bands were thinking when they conceived of the composition of their page. Of course, they weren't thinking -- and I was completely OVER-thinking the whole experience as a booker, and even more criminally, as one especially entrenched in the world of new media, music and user experience. So, musicians and bands, you have been warned. You have no more excuses -- disregard at your own peril, as I deconstruct your MySpace page through the eyes of a [insert snooty and jaded music-industry snob figurehead role here].
Hot pink text on a white background: Are you TRYING to make me nauseous?
So do you REALLY want your fans (or me) to really see your tourdates, read your latest blog headlines, comments or friends? Then stop making it look like a stereogram and put a contrasting color scheme for text and background on your page. Reconsider that big-ass background image of a full-moon against pitch-black outerspace if you really have to have white or black text.
Oh, and for background images, or any other images, if it's gonna take longer to load than three seconds, get rid of it. If I can't read shit on your page until a background image loads or your interminable pix load-time is keeping me from seeing the rest of your page, double-bad karma points on you.
Your Top Friends - Forbidden Doesn't Really Care She's There, And Neither Does Anyone Else
OK, I admit this is a little less obvious. But when a booker or A&R rep scopes out your page, your Top Friends are like one component of a mini-resume of your band. If your Top Friends are stocked with your signficant other, pets, planets, hot/cool/hipster peeps/celebs/models/pornstars, bands you idolize, etc. you're really missing a golden opportunity to show folks how you and your band fit into your local musical landscape. Top Friends composed of other local bands you gig with, music collectives you're a part of, local studios, recording engineers/producers you've worked with, local promoters/venues for whom you've played -- this all gives you a lot more credibility. This is also a subtle clue into how well you are self-promoting and networking. Sure, great music is definitely the cornerstone, but I can't tell you how many great bands couldn't break out because they just couldn't be bothered to network with other bands, contribute to their local music scene or even promote their own shows. As bands gain more and more momentum, Top Friends become less of a factor, but for new bands, take heed. Do me a favor and save Tila, Dennis Hopper, Jack Daniels, Spongebob and the Hoff for your personal MySpace page.
It's Cooler to Make You Think We're From LA (Even Though We're Really From Simi Valley).
Are you not based in LA, but put Los Angeles anyway to help get interest? OK, fair enough, it could help...at first. What about if your location is simply "California" or even bigger "United States". Yeah, cool, I get it. You either come from some po-dunk town you're too proud to reveal or, you're just so big you're not bound by the confines of your origin. Well, sure, if you're The Shins, or My Chemical Romance or Kanye. Other than that, I'm tying to figure out the best bill to put you on and if you're not local, I'll put you on with some other local bands so you're not playing to the crickets. If you say you're from "LA" but you're really from Simi Valley and I book three other bands from "LA" (but they're really from Whittier, Long Beach and Corona) who exactly do you think is going to come to see you? Of course, some industry types are equally geographically-challenged in which case you're better off opting for the hyphenated or slashed location like LA/Long Beach or LA-OC.
K, class dismissed. Now get Thomas and re-layout that page.
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