I don’t need to tell you to get a MySpace page. You already have one of those. MySpace may not have the best user interface in the world, it may be dreadfully coded and poorly laid out, and it may be owned and operated by the man who’s mentoring Beelzebub himself on business management tactics — but you still have to have one.
After all: you’re in the music biz, and that’s where all the people seem to be. Since you’re there, you might as well use it to your best advantage.
Judging by what I’ve seen from so many bands, labels and other music industry professionals — and going purely by the laws of probability based on my unscientific survey of MySpace music pages, here are some mistakes you’re probably making on MySpace.
1) Using MySpace as your website
This is the worst mistake of all, so I’ve put it at the top of the list. If MySpace is your online presence, you don’t have an online presence. MySpace is for social networking. It is not where you do your business. Have you set up your office at the pub? Use MySpace to interact socially with people, and encourage them to visit your own site where you have control over things like design, content and functionality.2) Using MySpace as your email
One of the great things about MySpace is that you can send private messages to people and they can reply. This is not a replacement for email — and if conversations go beyond more than one reply, you need to take it to real email as soon as possible. The messaging thing is about establishing contact. Once you have a real contact, then treat them like a real human being — not a MySpace arms-length ‘friend’.3) Having an impressive background image
If you have a lovely photo as the background to your MySpace page, one of two things is true. Either: a) I can’t read large sections of your text because it’s the same colour as parts of your lovely photo; or b) I can’t see it properly because it’s behind large sections of your text boxes. It’s nice that you have nice photos. Put them on Flickr. Leave your MySpace background plain so I can focus on who you are and what you have to say to me.4) Embedding lots of media
Your MySpace page is not one of the TV channels. I know how to use YouTube. I have not come here to watch videos. I want to know who you are and what you do, so that I will know whether to (and how to) interact with you. If you represent more than one artist, and they all have a video, then set up subsites on your own website and direct people there. One video per page, preferably. If you must put a video on your MySpace page (Really? Are you sure?) then whatever you do, make sure it doesn’t autoplay the moment I load your page. It’s bad enough I get music playing the second I open your page. Nothing scares the casual visitor away like simultaneous multiple sound sources.5) Writing lots of text
Remember – this is a place to meet people and interact with them. Starting off with a 3,000 word essay’s not the greatest ice-breaker in the world. Be brief. Be engaging. They’re after a quick synopsis — not a complete history. Again, direct them to your website if you feel it’s appropriate to make your entire autobiography known.
Remember: MySpace is a tool. It’s one of many. It’s not your only shot at engaging with your audience or prospective market. It’s an important one though, and it’s one that it’s very easy to make mistakes with. Use it well.
There are plenty of other tips for using MySpace — and other social networking sites too. I’ll have more over the next week.
Download Andrew Dubber's new book Music in the Digital Age - or, if you already have and you've been enjoying it or finding it useful, please consider paying for it here.
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[...] MySpace is not your website. I can’t say this often enough. If you’re relying on MySpace for your web presence, then you’re just not in the game. I once wrote about the five mistakes you’re probably making with your MySpace page, and I put this as the number one transgression. I’m starting to question whether MySpace is more trouble than it’s worth, but if you’re using it, think of it like it’s the pub. Meet people there, socialise, exchange details — and then, if you think you can do business with them, take them back to your office — or in this case, your real, professional website. [...]
[...] And there are important things to discuss. We can talk about how to promote your website. We can talk about how to pimp your MySpace page. We could spend time discussing the collapse of copyright in an online world, or the rise of the Long Tail. We might wish to discuss Microsoft’s Zune, and how it plans to be yet another Goliath to Apple’s iDavid. [...]
[...] 2006 blog post Five mistakes you’re probably making with your MySpace page (on Andrew Dubber’s blog “New Music Strategies“) applies equally to visual [...]
Band promotion links II…
After my last post with links about promoting your music online I found another batch of great articles….
[...] New Music Stratagies – 5 Myspace mistakes [...]
[...] New Music Strategies – 5 Myspace mistakes No Comments, Comment or Ping [...]
[...] You can use it for making contacts and connections, and I actually know people who do the majority of their business through MySpace – though I don’t recommend it. [...]
[...] sorun ingilizce olması ve bazı önerilerin bizim memlekette tutmayacak olması ;) Neyse kendileri güzel bir yazı yazmış. Ben de bu konuya değinmek istedim, siteden çeviri gibi başlayıp, yapılan hataları nasıl [...]
[...] see if your making one of the Five MySpace Mistakes from [...]
[...] addition to discussions on copyright and file sharing he also has some useful advice on how to make MySpace and other social networking applications work for [...]
[...] also points to a very useful article from Andrew Dubber. “Five mistakes you’re probably making with your MySpace page.” SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Myspace Advice for Artists", url: [...]
[...] reste des croyants. Sur New Music Strategies, 5 erreurs que vous avez surement faites avec votre page MySpace. Je sais accoler New, Music, Strategies et MySpace a comme un gout d’oxymore. J’ajoute une [...]
[...] know how people like Andrew Dubber tell you how to avoid common mistakes with your MySpace profile? He could use this as a perfect example of “don’t do [...]
[...] Five mistakes you’re probably making on your MySpace page Five mistakes you’re probably making on your MySpace page from New Music Strategies [...]
[...] a webes jelentléted, akkor ne számíts rá, hogy komolyan vesznek. Írtam már arról is, mi az az öt hiba, amit a MySpace oldaladdal elkövethetsz, és ez volt az első lehetséges ballépés. Lassan arra jutok, hogy a MySpace egyszerűen nem [...]
[...] je voulais vous parler d’un article très intéressant d’Andrew Dubber intitulé « Five mistakes you’re probably making with your MySpace », autrement dit (pour les non anglophones !!!) : Les 5 erreurs que vous commettez probablement avec [...]
57 Comments
People on myspace deserve everything they get. Are they flying?
Very useful points some interesting thought provoking stuff!
Lee (MIDAS)
See this is sensible. I was expecting the usual condescending and cynical stuff I’ve got on my site. I’m guilty of forgeting myspace works best as a point of contact.
But a night on myspace beats a night postering out in the rain hands down!
Some good points there, the thing you are saying about having your own website is such a good idea as Myspace have becoming so obsessive over spamming you have to put a code in to communicate with people they encourage you to make friends with… dohhhhhhhhh! John
I want to change my My space presence from writer to musician.But I started just a regular page afe months back.now whan I try to get a ”artists” page.It wont let me.At least not from my HOME computer it seems.how can i can my page to an artist page with music player etc. thank you
1. Agree
2. Agree
3. Ehhh. We use a background image as borders, with solid color for reading areas. I’d say I’d agree, if it’s not well-designed.
4. Disagree. Embed your latest video, but make sure it doesn’t autoplay. You invested in the video, don’t bury it. A well-done music video or EPK can sell you WAY more than the songs in your player can. Just don’t drown the viewer in 30 clips.
5. Agree. Leave that for the comments.
Great blog, Dubber. Awesome read…peace
Speaking as an independent mmusician who has gone through too many web designers and marketing gurus to count, this is all great advice. You’e right on, Dubber.
Good points Andrew .. a mate of mine described myspace as
“a one page business card” .. apt I think
Hoe do I change my standard page to an artists (music) Page or do I have to start again and sign up as an artist
You have to start again. Or, increasingly, don’t bother.
VampireFreaks.com is a good alternative to Myspace, although it is a little more “dark” and tends to keep most people away. While what you said still holds true, I find there are still too many complications with MySpace (ie – Phishing links and so on.) I’ve never seen anything like that on VF yet.
Just a suggestion.
I disagree somewhat, when I go to someones myspace and they havent modified beyond the simple boring setup template, I have to be very impressed by their actual art to stay there more than a microsecond, imagination is what I look for in any artist no matter what their medium.
Conversely I have to admit that I have added people who had cool profiles and interesting things to say about themselves or the world even if I thought their music was only so-so.
I think its a matter of taste and style, if you dont got those baby you better go find a different racket!!
Word?
I love what you’re saying here; and it’s all things I’ve been telling people for awhile, and making my best move to not fall into myself. I hate it when bands use Myspace as their website; it kind of makes me feel angry. I know we can’t all build a website, but it’s also not hard now to spend a little time and create something outside myspace. I also work to get all my contact’s info off myspace (real email, etc), because I never trust that Myspace will stick around long enough for me to keep in contact with these folks.
What about virb.com
I have to question advising people not to post a vid on their page. A well done video is your best asset to promote you music… post one… don’t auto play it… and link to others…. aside from that, I couldn’t agree more….
how do i go about making a mysoace music page?
Hello, and Thank You for this insightful article. Your points are very accurate however can you also recommend a great website designer who is not going to overcharge for a decent website. Most of them want $2-3000… Ridiculous!!!
myspace its a great way to interact with other ppl from different parts of the world u can make a great friends while being on myspace its a great way to start off a relationship between someone by similar hobbies and background u never know who u might talk to or meet
They should have listened. All those people who should have been using their myspace to build mailing lists and traction for their own site outside of the ‘space.
I was guilty at the time of frothing over myspace, but for those of us early adopters who got as much as we could out of it while they could we did pretty well. I can’t complain.
While the critical mass lasted, myspace changed the way ordinary people find and interact with music online.
I’ve got a new blog post updating users for March 08 on “life after myspace.”
http://tiny.cc/V0Xmf
basically how to approach myspace now that the flame isn’t burning quite so hot anymore.
(haha “brian botkiller” I like that. Myspace may be dead . . . but the bots live on!!! Muahahaha)
Great post! Thanks.
Another mistake of MySpace is using a friend count to gauge how good a band actually is. Friends are solicited and mindlessly accepted.
I just don’t see anything wrong with a 5,000+ word bio! Convince me otherwise.Ha! I’ve seen this so many times and know right away NO ONE besides the singer’s sister reads that stuff. Nice relevant article.
I agree with all these points!!! So many times an artist would like me to check out there page and 15videos are on there (slowing the page down) and at least 3 are on autoplay. How can I hear your music?!?!? Also, for website design…my company starts at $500 (depending on content). Contact me at StarLITpr@gmail.com for a quote!
I think all of these are great points. The profile backdrop templates are the biggest issue. You cant use green text on a green background. It seems all of the templates have this very simple design problem. I would consider myspace to be dead if everyday there wasn’t new comments and friend requests. You might as well ride the wave a little longer.
Peace,
aaron
Agree mostly, well drafted stuff. And yes i HAAAATE it when morons have multi-vid clips and tunes running on their page, half the time it crashes my pc or at least freezes up my browser, plus it sounds like a cats cacophony will all the different sounds overlapping.
however myspace is a great way to interact with friends, other artists, randomers, etc all simulataeously when you want to advertise a gig thru bulletins, or ‘cyber flyers’ as i like to call them.
I wouldnt write off myspace just yet. Certainly for artists. And the likes of bebo and facebook make me ill, especially BEBO, its polluted with self obsessed teens and morons in general who think having an account with a million photos of your nights out is the same as being famous or that the world in general gives a shit.
aiight , peace.
Myspace is very much alive, thank goodness.
I have ‘discovered’ a number of bands that I may not have otherwise come across. I found my favourite band, Officer Kicks, who are not, as yet, well known on myspace – or perhaps they found me.
They put more effort into their MySpace page than their website, infact like most new bands do. I think that is because this is where their actual fans are and where fans can easily interact with the band. I have tried sending emails to actual fan sites before – never do I receive a response. However, on numerous occaisions I have received replies to my MySpace messages and comments from the band members themselves not just their web manager.
I like to hear their latest song when I visit their space or have an option to play a variety of videos. I do take the point, however, about having several autoplaying all at once; I agree too many sound sources is irritating.
I find nothing wrong with lots of text; if I am interested in their music or their videos, I can choose to read more, or not.
I do take the point about about bad profile design – there are a number that do make that mistake and I do hit the back button if I can’t read what is written or if I can’t actually see where the Add, Message etc links are.
Bands/artists, please, do keep using myspace – it is often the easiest and best way for us fans to keep track of our favourite artists. Those bands, especially newer bands, that don’t use it to the best miss out on a great chance to connect with the very fans that they want to buy their music and to inform them when they are playing live. I rely on MySpace to find out when and where bands are playing.
Is MySpace dead? I think not!
What you are saying is mostly true. I disagree totally with 2 points.
1) Using myspace as your website. Personally I cant be bothered looking at lots of different (often poorly designed) band websites trying to navigate to the content I want to see / hear from a band. I’m looking for Audio and Video – With myspace its all on the front page where I know I can find it easily. I don’t have to go to unnecessary sub pages to get to it.
I can’t even remember the last time I spent more than a few seconds on a bands actual site. It’s all there for me on myspace.
2) Using myspace as your email. How is using ‘real’ email treating people as a real human being? Its still a text based communication conducted over the internet. It is no more or less personal than messaging on myspace. It’s essentially the same thing.
I totally agree with the audio/visual clutter on pages – horrible.
But myspace is by far more convenient to connect with, listen to and interact with bands than having to go to individual band web pages – find what you are looking for and then go to a separate place to get in contact via ‘real email’. Why bother? I don’t and I’m sure most others don’t either.
Hi Andrew, This post was a real help for the MySpace chapter of the ebook.
For thos who are interested, I have outlined my own MySpace advice and online marketing advice for you free here: http://www.musicadium.com/promotions/ebook
I agree with pretty much all of it except the Videos part.
If I visit the Myspace page of my favourite band (Chas n’ Dave) I want to be able to watch all of my favourite Vids right there without being pulled off into a youtube tangent!
In fact, I just visited their page and alas no Vids! yes there are tracks but I want to see my heroes in all their motion picture glory minus the nagging likelihood of a 7 hour youtube bender.
I agree with all the points, though as we’re a music video network I put videos on the page, it’s what we’re about. We don’t get an awful lot of interest via MySpace though, we’re just there because everyone else is.
I always send people to the band’s myspace page in our video metadata – like someone said above, it’s a business card type introduction. I believe a lot more music discovery goes on in youtube even though a lot of bands don’t necessarily have their own channels there. You can get a much better idea of what a band is like if you can see live footage or the kind of music videos they have (this isn’t self promotion by the way!)
A good example of a great myspace for a music artist
http://www.myspace.com/hillzyroscoe
http://www.myspace.com/hillzyroscoe
1.I like how it`s arranged and there is not too many flash objects(it slows down your computer)
2.Note that the message button directs to an actual e-mail account not myspace msg service
3. all his businesses are mentioned and all have links of their own(this is great so you won`t mix your porno business with your church prayer group)
4. Thats one of the best i`ve seen so far
I like how you think because people put photos of their nights out it means i think the world gives a fuck…
Its called having friends and sharing photos.
If i wasn’t meant to share photo’s sites wouldn’t add an upload photo link dumbass.
Good stuff. Really helpful self marketing information. Your tips stand the test of time and add a sophisticated compound view of the subject in a short space. You get it said. There is something for the marketer, the musician, layout designer, psychologist, and salesman. I don’t know squat to argue your points but you sold me ticket admission, so to speak. Proud of your skill. Thanks for your talent.
I’m getting a website, ASAP. Myspace schmyspace.
I agree with your points. I would like to add if you’re an artist, My Space is a great way to connect with your fans. You can post discounted tickets, merchandise, and so much more to promote yourself to your fans. Still, always point to your website. It’s known that A&R reps, magazine editors, booking agents, and promoters cruise My Space looking for rising talent, and to see how fans respond to that talent. They can’t measure fan response by viewing your website. With that said, be careful on what you place on your My Space page. It’s a marketing and promotional tool. It’s not a place to post personal issues. Keep it professional at all times. I recommend setting your messages to away, with a fan email address and links to your website to drive traffic to it.
Warm regards,
Hipnotik
Staff Writer for Wutz Hood Magazine
Myspace when used properly can be of good value for free promotion! Here is an invite to my page myspace.com/therealslopoke
Thanks for the warning, so now I think, I will try to avoid this mistakes.
Some great points to consider…
One thing to consider though, it’s easier for someone to find a band they know only by name via MySpace than to search for their band’s website URL.
For example a band’s websire name could be various extensions, .COM, .NET etc and could have characters such as ‘-’ in the name or ‘…music’ tagged on the end. Whereas all Myspace URLs start the same http://www.myspace.com/whateverband
We have far more contact and comment from people as a result of being on MySpace than we ever did from our website.
I’d say mistake #6 is using myspace as your main website and not having your own domain. You are helping build someone else’s business.
I don’t think myspace is where the people are – I think Google is where the people are. I want my own site to come up when people type in “new music” or “free music downloads” (I’m at page 6 and climbing)… NOT my rinky dink myspace page!
Absolutely not agreed with number 1, at least for myself, most of the time I’d rather visit a myspace music profile than a website. Why? MySpace Profiles automatically direct me to hear their music, and if I like the music, eventually I will read what’s being said there, or maybe not, but still. A website will give me some bleh pictures to see, nice design if it has any, some biography im prolly not wanting to read before listening to music, a music section with free mp3s for download (and not stream).
A good example although this might not be your typical band:
http://www.myspace.com/gorgoroth
against
http://www.gorgoroth.org
so how do i go about starting my own website?
Well, I’ve got five out of five going for me, with a caveat:
I have NO main website. I’m trying to keep overhead super low these days, so my musical web presence is a “portfolio” of various music sites that charge no money.
Maybe I’m an exception to the rule, but I rarely go to ANY band’s main website – I usually go straight to a band’s MySpace site first, because I can get everything on one page in an instant (providing they adhere to rules three through five).
If they manage to have a clean, informative, quickly-loadable MySpace page, I know they’re fairly serious… etc.
Cheers
This just make plain common sense.
I sort of disagree myspace shouldn’t be used as the website but I understand what the writer is saying so sort of agree with him as well.
1. Web designers are a pain the ass to work with because unless their doing corporate money stuff they just don’t seem to be interested, at least in the UK that is. They are slow, bad communicators and expensive + they get it wrong every time. I have not once met one that is human. Sure, if you have tens of thousands of dollars you can get the action but for someone like me who cant afford such sums you get what you pay for. Dealing with web designers as a niche artist with little money has been the bain of my musical web existence. Updates are a huge ordeal…when you dont have the clout. I once waited 9 months for the guy to change a photo which Im sure took at least 3 months off my life span…how on earth can it take someone so long to get around to that. These days I have almost given up on it.
2. It became quite obvious that after six months of having a myspace site hits on my own website were down by 50% (at least) now I get about 20% of my traffic directly to my own website through google searches. People see the word myspace and click. I had my own website massively linked on myspace but still people didnt really go there, They actually went directly to my blog before my own site. My blog wasn’t even massively displayed.
However, I hate myspace for the obvious reasons. My basic blog is coming up on the hits which Im all for because at least I have some control. Myspace is just a daily durge of other musicians shouting at me to listen to their crappy music (yes Im biased). My email is full of total rubbish inviting me to gigs across the world, shouting about their new crappy release, and mentioning the smallest insignificant detail about what their doing..Like I give a damn!!. Are these people mental??. On the few occasions I get an actual enquiry from a member of the public its as if the sun just put its hat on.
I hope in the near future a social site for bands and musicians will arrive that is actually good, and useful. One site I really like although its not a website-social site type deal is bandcamp. Such an elegant and easy to use interface and the fact they don’t take your money is cool, well V cool actually. I wouldn’t mind at all giving them 10% or even 20% because their so good. Right now if I sell a song through I tunes who gets them via my content provider Im lucky to see $0.15 per song. Emusic is even worse because they do those subscription things for customers which can mean $0.05 per download or even lower. Lost FM is a total joke. Its the same with all the other download portals…except bandcamp that is. Im a niche artist so making a living through such fascist dictatorial means is incredibly difficult and I dont perform live so its even harder.
Was this to long..sorry..I dont work for bandcamp btw but do check them out if your a niche person
Die myspace, and die a fast death..
PS my name is an alias but Im sure there is someone called chuck
I just want to say that Ross Robinson producer for the Cure, Korn, At the Drive In, Norma Jean, Slip KNot etc etc uses MySpace for A&R.
he found unknown band Repeater this way, reached out to them and is going isn’t charging recording fees to get their music out.
I’m thinking that bands would be pretty excited to have a world famous producer randomly hit them up on MySpace to have a chance to work with them.
This is pretty big deal in music for so many reasons.
Like many others, i agree with all points except the video one, yes to them as long as they don’t autoplay.
Of course yes there is always youtube and create a space there for your videos. Or sending a bulletin to show your latest video or remind your fans of an old video.
Well, not sure I agree with creating your own website. The added expense/effort put in could easily be counterproductive.
Hi, just found this site I am so happy…….!:) I have just started to promote artists again after a few years away from the industry and have decided to do as much as possible online before doing starting to plug releases to radio etc.
I have to say the standard of myspace page of unsigned / independent artist/labels is not great. I totaly agree that using your myspace as your online presence is a very bad idea. You should use it as stated as a calling card or a hand shake that leads on to your site that you have full controll of it layout and design.
I’d say that having a website with at minimum some contact information, a short bio/discography and perhaps some photos is a good idea. If you are lucky enough that someone wants to write something about you you should offer them a small “press kit”. Photos are also good for posters for a gig, so it’s nice to have for promoters.That being said, having a website that pretends to be something bigger is a bad idea if you don’t regularly update it with fresh content. Your last news post is from two years ago, your list of gigs has no new entries since 2005, you have a forum with six posts and four member.. that just looks like you made a half-assed effort once, and is too lazy to bother updating.
I agree with your points about Myspace, personally I think it’s horrific UI puts off anyone with sense, but it’s also a given that you need to have a page there if only to point people away to your real site.
A good site for hosting music is SoundCloud, it supports pretty much any format from at any file size – very nifty embedded player etc. http://soundcloud.com/
Thank you for all these advices. I totally agree with your points.
I add a french version of your post in MyTourManager’s blog. http://www.mytourmanager.org/blog/?p=346
Regards,
Marty
In response to the expense of hiring a website designer / developer to create your own presence on the web…
Luckily the band I play in, Me and The Beast (meandthebeast.com) , is lucky because they have a guy who does digital and web for a living – me
It can be expense and frustrating when you have a tight budget and no experience of starting up your own web enterprise.
My advice is use WordPress – just google it. WordPress is the easiest content management system out there and it’s open source which equals ‘free’ to you and me.
Even better, if you find a web host like Media Temple or Evohosting (great company) in the UK, you can install WordPress at the click of a button.
In terms of design – just google ‘WordPress templates’ and you’re sure to find something that suits or can be tweaked by a designer who knows a bit of HTML / CSS
Seriously, WordPress is your friend.
Damo
I agree with all the points there except for the background image (we have a bordered image with black in the middle) and the video. Putting your latest video on your MySpace page is perfectly fine. But there is a couple that you overlooked.
One thing I see (and avoid doing) is spamming people. If I leave a comment on someone’s page I either 1) make sure that I’ve left that person a comment before and said hi or 2) I at least say “Hi I hope you’re having a great day/weekend/week. (insert banner/image here)”.
I never use mass emailing programs for myspace, or make it impersonal. People want to feel like you’ve taken the time to notice them and that they are worth your time to leave a real comment.
Also whenever I send a friend request I say “Hi, just wanted to invite you to our page to take a listen to our music. If you like what you hear we’d appreciate an add”
It’s amazing how far that introduction will get you. If I send out 400 friend request I will get on average 375 people approving us.
So to all the bands out there that think “if I build it they will come”…..wrong! Build it, grow it and above all take the time to get to know your fans. Then they will come!
you are great for pulling out such points,
honestly i don’t know how to thank you,
but just know that you have cause a difference in my musical life today.
@carolyn: You have to create an entirely new profile as an artist. You can’t switch once you have already signed up as a regular user.
@carolyn:
@Bill Lonero: Your statistics on how many people actually accept your request are surprisingly high. I’d say only about 20% of people will actually add you, of which a small percentage have their profiles set to auto add friend requests.
@Alexis Bright: Its easier for Ross Robinson to listen to new music on Myspace, however I think what Dubber is saying is that if you want people to understand what you represent as an artist, the best way to do so would be with your own website. After all, as an artist you’re also a business, and to just have a Myspace page to represent you is a bit slack and shows little effort is being put in. Fair enough, its a great tool to look up new music, just as Ross Robinson does, but I bet Repeater now have a quality website too.