| "I resisted MySpace for a long time, but then our friend told us to get on it, so we did. I love it now. A lot of people heard us for the first time on it."
Zach Gabbard, the singer for garage-rock band Thee Shams, has a point. In the past, belonging to an Internet organization hasn’t always been something any self-respecting rock band would want to be associated with. It’s sort of like joining a dating service – you might find your true love, but it’s unlikely that you’ll tell your family how you met. It’s just not cool.
But somehow MySpace.com is different.
MySpace.com is an online community where people set up homepages about themselves. On MySpace, you can upload photos, write and read blogs, upload your favourite songs and videos, instant message other members and generally keep up with your friends wherever they live.
Soon independent bands and musicians took it upon themselves to use the site as a way to distribute their own music for free and develop a fanbase. The bands are given space to stream songs, which lets anyone who goes to a band’s page automatically hear some music without fussing with downloading. It’s a brilliant resource for anyone who wants to sample a band without committing. It’s also a great place for bands to offer live tracks, demos and other treats for their fans.
While the majority of the approximately 35 million subscribers are individuals, since MySpace began in 2003, it has become a breeding ground for bands, major labels and indies. Log on and you can find and connect with everyone from Neil Diamond to Motorhead. Some MySpace pages are actual portals to the bands themselves and others are created by fans and record labels. It makes popular bands like Weezer and AFI seem accessible, hooks Joan Jett fans up with others who love rock ’n’ roll, and gives virtually unknown bands a chance to make fans and gain an audience in perhaps the most grassroots way since ’zines were at their peak.
Most fans that start tribute pages to their favourite bands do so with full disclosure. However, a Mountain Goats fan made a page for John Darnielle that included a candid photo and no mention that it wasn’t an official page. Darnielle wrote a very kind letter telling everyone that, although he spends a great deal of time on his own site and on the Internet in general, he is not a MySpace member. He didn’t care that the kid made a page for him, he was just concerned that people would think he was rude if they e-mailed him and he didn’t respond. I wonder if Jessica Simpson would react the same way if someone impersonated her?
While the biggest MySpace news concerns its recent purchase (by media mogul Rupert Murdoch) for $580 million, there are smaller achievements, credited to the site’s president and figurehead Tom Anderson, that prove MySpace’s allegiance to music and may account for the site’s runaway popularity.
The first is a North America-wide tour featuring screamo and pop-punk bands like Greenley Estates and My American Heart. The second is the release of MySpace Records Vol.1, a compilation that is firmly rooted in emo (including a track from the genre’s grandpa, Dashboard Confessional), with power poppers The Click Five and the electro-pop of Tila Tequila providing some variety.
Speaking of Ms. Tequila, she may be the ultimate MySpace creation. With 658,243 friends on her page, this former Playboy model, who also owns her own clothing line, has more fans than most upcoming musicians who play sexy electronic music. Regardless of why people were drawn to her in the first place, it’s quite likely that if you enjoy the way she looks in a bikini, you’ll buy her records. It’s a solid marketing campaign.
But while sexy women are all over MySpace, you’re just as likely to run across The Apples in Stereo, Swearing at Motorists or The High Dials (who consider themselves "MySpace rookies").
One local band that has found a home at MySpace is Lions And Tigers And Bears(LTB), a relatively young (the band turns one on December 16) Calgary punk band comprised of singer-guitarist Andrew Woods, bassist Andrew Kidd and drummer Cody Coates. They sound a little like the sorely missed Jawbreaker and have picked up well over 400 friends on MySpace since joining on December 29, 2004.
For LTB, MySpace has been a useful fan-building tool. "I'd say the majority of our fans heard us on MySpace before anything else," says Coates. "It's always cool to see our MySpace friends at our shows.
"Anytime we hear a band name, we check to see if they have a MySpace page. Usually they do and it's a good introduction to what the band is about. Lots of good (bands), lots of bad (ones)."
Another Calgary trio spawned in the midst of the MySpace era is Hot Awesome, featuring former Fast Forward film and music editor Jason Lewis on bass, along with singer-guitar player Scott Bennie and drummer Jay Woolley.
"We strip pop-punk down to its bare essentials, playing for keeps as well as playing for fun," says Bennie of his band.
Hot Awesome, which joined MySpace "about six months ago," haven’t pimped themselves out as much as most other bands do, seemingly only asking people to check them out if it’s likely they’ll enjoy the music. Instead of joining in the rush to link up with as many people as possible, Hot Awesome have a kinder, gentler approach to the site.
"It's a great site to communicate with other bands, promoters and people that come out to see shows," Bennie says. "At our last show we had someone approach us and tell us that they came to see us because they liked the songs they heard on the MySpace site."
While most indie bands seem to use MySpace in the same way that Lions and Tigers and Bears and Hot Awesome do, to connect with fans and friends, some bands are much more aggressive. Just as it’s up to the consumer to decide what records to buy, it’s up to the individual member if he or she is going to participate in a band’s popularity contest.
Oh, and if you check out the Brian Jonestown Massacre homepage, you’ll get ample opportunity to read Anton Newcombe’s thoughts about life, the government and what he thinks of video game playing slackers. Sometimes his ideas are right on, sometimes they are a convoluted mishmash of ideas and almost all are misspelled. |
Copyright ©2005 FFWD. All rights reserved.