You've got to get on Myspace, everybody told me. It's so good for your business. Oh, and you'll see, it doesn't seem like it now but it's so addictive.
And now I'm wondering if there's a different MySpace in an alternate universe because after several months of stumbling around uncomfortably in this world's MySpace I don't feel like any gaps have been bridged. My business hasn't changed a bit. And I don't find it addictive in the slightest. In fact it's all I can do to drag myself over there and sign in, knowing that my mailboxes will be overflowing with "friend" requests and messages from people I don't know and, for the most part, don't care to know. My mood darkens and my heart sinks every time I muster up the fortitude to trudge over there and wade through what ought to be the private ickiness of complete strangers.
I hate it. I hate people I don't even know calling themselves my "friends." I hate the site design, which looks like something you might expect from a cat-lover's Geocities page circa 1996. I hate the interminable loading times. I hate that almost half the profiles I visit (in a feeble attempt to feel like I'm not adding total strangers as friends) crash my browser because yet another pitiful goof had to load up his page with stupid band and celebrity photos and videos that he mistakenly thinks make him look more interesting than he is. I hate that so many of my friends, who ought to know better, have spent hours carefully crafting lists of their favorite movies and books and music, as if anybody does or ought to care that they hold John Fante, Fassbinder or the Pixies in high esteem. I hate how rather than shining a light on the human condition in a way that brings us together, it only shows us the ugly, stupid side - the one that insists that the only things we have in common are a desperate need for attention and a complete lack of embarrassment in attaining it. It's a website with God only knows how many hundreds of thousands of profiles of people determined to showcase their uniqueness and individuality. And yet they all come off exactly the same. I hate, most of all, that I'm a part of it.
The site sucks. I mean, at least I won't get an argument there, right? It does look like crap, right? It is criminally slow, isn't it? I mean, on the whole, it's an aesthetically unpleasing, navigationally frustrating experience, right? And am I the only one who can't manage to listen to music files about 75% of the time? They either flat out won't play, take an hour to load, or else they play for six and a half seconds before stopping.
Jeff from the Dead Kennedys told me that one of the problems is that I signed up for a personal account rather than a band account. But is it truly going to make that much of a difference? Am I really going to start making more money? How?
In short, everything I was told about MySpace has, as far as I can see, turned out to be false. Keeping in mind that I have no interest in meeting and wooing girls half my age, is there any reason for me to continue to log in and torture myself? Honestly - what am I missing?
I fully agree.
And to add to it, more than half the time I try logging on there's some sort of unexpected error and I'm asked to try again later. I’ve actually received a small amount of success in promoting and merchandise sales using myspace but that probably could have been done much easier using other methods. And as of yet the payoff is far below the effort.
Good to see you posting again and I look forward to the new music.
Clay
I went on MySpace to keep an eye on my teen kids, rather than banning it outright. "Just say no" rarely works out.
What hooked me after that was the music. No two ways about it, I have gotten to hear local music and world music that I never would have been exposed to any other way. I think the community is a lot like real life - you get out of it what you put into it. You sometimes correspond with people you like, and you can ignore people you don't want to correspond with.
I'm spoiled with a speedier computer so I don't run into as many technical problems, but I do know they can be a major annoyance. I know the recent power problems in CA caused the site a lot of difficulty.
I must confess that I submitted a friend request and that yes, Ben Weasel is on my friends list. I added for the same reason I read this blog, I think Ben Weasel is interesting. That's all. We've never met, so we are not friends in the literal sense; I think MySpace friends simply indicate a contact you'd like to be in touch with.
As far as making money goes, check out Jonny Q, up there on MySpace hawking his BBQ sauce. http://www.myspace.com/goalasto17 That kid is workin' it to the max. He's gone from the bottom shelf at my local chain grocery store to eye-level in a matter of weeks. I never would have noticed him or tried his sauce (which is actually very good) if he hadn't messaged me on MySpace. Go figure.
Posted by: Lisa at July 31, 2006 12:04 PMIndeed.
Mysapce...Good grief.
Never have I seen so many self indulgent pimply faced "Love me" "Look at me's" in one place.
I despise it.
Makes my blood boil just thinking about it.
As far as the band accounts go, Ben, it reminds me of flipping through a music magazine - a terrible one at that. You end up weeding through an awful lot of crap. Yet, I still get that rare tingly feeling when I come across some unknown band whose music is just knocks me off my chair.
Indeed, the site, as is, is kinda blah. Many bands post different backgrounds and junk to offer the visitor a..unique...visiting experience.
I would be rather surprised that a SW band account wouldn't at least offer a tiny spike in sales / exposure. We've had people show up at our shows who claim to have found us on MySpace. Oh, how the time's are changing...
Christ -- after reading this, one might think I am Rupert Murdoch's punk rock nephew or something trying to sell the site.
Posted by: resident jason at July 31, 2006 12:15 PMMySpace is, without a doubt, the ugliest and tackiest site on the net. It's the trailer-park of the WWW. With that said, it is also serves as a valuable networking resource for small artists/musicians. A friend of mine books punk shows at a local dive bar, and he swears by the site.
And the kids seem to love it. I guess that's all that really matters. What we old farts think of it is almost completely irrelevant.
-Craig
Posted by: Craig at July 31, 2006 12:19 PM...and, as I believe you have already experienced, you have to worry about this stupid MySpace crap that Bob Mould is going through...
http://modulate.blogspot.com/2006_07_01_modulate_archive.html#115421135732370584
Posted by: resident jason at July 31, 2006 12:27 PMI agree that the idea of random people being "friends" is a bit out there...but I have found that MySpace has actually helped me out in a few ways.
On my personal myspace, I only "add" people that I personally know. It has helped me find and keep in contact with a lot of old friends, so I like it for that. It's certainly easier (and cheaper) to keep up with people on the site than by telephone.
On my band's page, we'll accept anyone as a "friend." To me, anyone who wants to check us out and hear a song or two is allright with me. We have really noticed an increase in people at our shows, a lot of them who say that they either heard of us or heard about the show on MySpace. Our merch sales online have gone up, and because of the increase in bodies at the shows we are getting better shows. It's a win/win situation, as long as you are willing to put up with the usual BS (tons of messages/comments, etc.) that comes with it.
I think it is a useful marketing tool for bands, and if used properly, a nice way to keep in touch with old friends.
PS: Ben, you also can set your myspace where people have to put in your e-mail address to verify that they already know you before they can request you as a friend. This is useful if you don't want hundreds of random people hitting you up based on your celebrity. But...I would suggest a Ben Weasel/SW/RD music page that is accessible to anyone...it's a great way to get out news quick, sell merch/cd's, etc.
Posted by: nickstale at July 31, 2006 12:29 PMmyspazz is only useful for one thing, keeping myself updated with upcoming local and national gigs, the only friends on my page, are actualy REAL life friends I interact with outwith this godforsaken cyber world, or bands that I like. As far as bands go, these days it's not about how good your band is, it's all a popularity contest, the band with the coolest kids from high school always wins, even though they're really, really terrible, all the other kids wanna kiss their asses. Myspace has contributed to making this problem even worse.
Scott
Posted by: scott at July 31, 2006 12:40 PMI got on MySpace as a way to keep in touch with out of state friends. I admit that it seemed stupid to be putting down movies/books/music I like; I did it anyway for some reason.
But even though nobody cares if I listen to Hank Williams, a lot of people do care what their musical idols listen to. For example, I may never have checked out Alkaline Trio or the Leftovers if it hadn't been for the posts on this website. The only difference is that Ben writes about the bands he likes here rather than on MySpace. People read it because they are interested.
Posted by: Jonas at July 31, 2006 12:56 PMYes, there a lot of things wrong with myspace. The layout sucks, the most "unique" people have a mere 30 or 40 identical twins and even if you have a superfast internet connection you can wait an hour to login because the servers they use are apparently russian military surplus from the cold war BUT... myspace still has a lot to offer provided you use it the right way. Myspace is a great way to keep in touch with friends (real friends, not virtual robot friends) who live in another state, city whatever. a page full of pictures, blogs and the occasional bulletin lets your aquaintences keep abrest of your life and the connection you may have had when you were neighbors or band mates or whatever remains intact. Really, that's what all good personal webpages are. You have a great personal page here but not every person has the resources to have their own cool web page that's not myspace. I myself wouldn't know where to start making a real webpage and I can't even afford my own internet connection let alone server space for a page. Oh yeah, as it's been said before, myspace is great for bands, especially broke punk bands. If my band didn't have myspace, we wouldn't have a webpage and we wouldn't have been able to book half the shows we've played. Myspace may be nothing more than a drop in the bucket of wasted time for an established band but it's the best thing since budweiser for a starving punk band.
Posted by: Jesco at July 31, 2006 01:37 PMmyspace is the next big plague. think about the kids. think how it will change minds. sure, there's good points for bands, but there's thousands of other sites many times better than myspace. its slow, ulgy and full of crap. junk food for the weak. and most of the kids wont even notice how it will affect their own life...
Posted by: Johnny Love at July 31, 2006 02:06 PMI find it useful to keep track of all the many bands that I like. I know what bands are playing where and when, and know when to expect new albums and merchandise. I have also been able to meet many people that I do end up liking. I can admit that I come across people who I could really go a lifetime without meeting, but I have met a select few that are real and true people, some of which I have now met in “real life” and am forming friendships with. Music is my main drive behind my account, and cable or DSL makes the loading and glitches a little easier to cope with.
I have also been able to meet and chat with people from various bands that I have listened to for a lifetime but haven’t had the pleasure of introductions (this is probably one of the things that bothers you as a musician.) Now that I know you have an account, I am off like a young boy from school for the summer to look you up and send you the inevitable “will you be my friend?” request… I will not be hurt if you decline as I get the strange feeling you are not too keen on myspace and people you don’t know.
I full agree i desided to start a myspace last week and it was nothing but confusion to the point were i was like 'i quit' i didnt look at it for a couple days went back and tryed again i am just now starting to get it.
Posted by: t.shazma at July 31, 2006 03:40 PMIntermix Media, the company that owns Myspace.com has been purchased by the Fox Network as well, so it's well on the way to becoming another cog in Rupert Murdoch's right wing machine.
Posted by: aluckypunk at July 31, 2006 04:13 PMI think you underestimate the need for humans to feel connected... even to complete strangers.
I don't think it's as pathetic or superficial as you may think although perhaps it is.
And why can't people indulge in it if it makes them happy.
Posted by: Jess at July 31, 2006 06:06 PMJess,
I think what drives people on MySpace is not a "need to feel connected" to other people, but rather a narcissistic one that's all about "me, me, me."
Posted by: David at July 31, 2006 07:10 PMJoey Vindictive has his own myspace page why not Ben Weasel? Meh, it's not for everyone I suppose. Although, it does wonders for promoting people trying to promote their band. I also keep in touch with people that I normally would have lost contact with. I started a SW fanpage and if you want to take it over Ben, I would gladly hand it over. Maybe you would have a better experience with a band page? Email me if interested...
Posted by: Patrick at July 31, 2006 08:04 PMI think Myspace is cool for hearing music and getting updates...but, I don't quite get how people get "addicted" to it- addicted to what?
Posted by: Kevin Rawwwk at August 1, 2006 12:44 AMI do believe that if your only excuse is listening to bands, all of them can be found on purevolume.com. The site is aesthetically pleasing and you can go and listen to music without making any friends. Myspace does shit for promoting music. What!? you can send out 1000 friend request to kids who give your music a half-hearted listen and spend half their time at the beauty salon and the other half trying to tape their nutsacks between their legs so they can put on a pair of chick jeans.
Posted by: Pete D. at August 1, 2006 01:29 AMI disagree a little bit about myspace. Of course 99 percent of myspace pages suck (probably including mine), but that's almost beside the point. It gives the average Joe an easy place to have his own website. I notice a lot of bands update their myspace page more than their official page for that very reason - it's easy. Of course, tons of pages are filled with cliches, but I like having my own place own easy place on the web to do what I want with.
Friend requests do seem superficial and annoying at times, and of course lots of people aren't actually friends, but if someone randomly stopped by my page and was interested enough to request me as a friend, I'm not too worried about it. I've also tracked down some old friends on there.
I think I probably get some of the same things out of having a myspace page as you do out of having this website. I think it's fun. If it isn't fun for you, don't feel forced into messing with it. Put up a link to this website, and never log into myspace, or just drop your account.
Posted by: Jeff at August 1, 2006 03:28 AM
Finally! Someone else thinks MySpace is a waste. I agree, Ben, that it has no value whatsoever. I watch as friends pass the hours reconnecting with high school "friends" who they didn't even speak to for the entire four years. I watch others put up pictures of themselves with new boy/girlfriends in hopes of making exes jealous.
"It's cool to keep contact with people," they all say. I say, "If these 'friends' are worth keeping contact with, you'd have laid that groundwork years ago and would probably have a phone number."
When the MySpace data center crashed a few weeks back, a local newscaster here in Boston quipped that thousands, nay millions, of people actually were forced to pick up a phone to talk to friends. A spot on observation, highlighting the laziness of our generation.
If you miss someone that much, or really want to reconnect, sit down and write a letter -- not an email, a LETTER -- throw a stamp on it and drop it in the mailbox. That's how you'll find out who your true friends are.
Oh yeah, by the way, you can visit my band on MySpace: www.myspace....JUST KIDDING!!!
Posted by: Andrew at August 1, 2006 09:13 AM