Interesting back and forth regarding MySpace from a Robin Davey/Hypebot post this morning, entitled “Why The Decline Of MySpace Is Great For Musicians”.
Spolier Alert:
Excerpt from the Robin Davey case:
Musicians are better off without MySpace… MySpace got bands into the mindset that music was worth nothing more than a friend request and a number of plays…MySpace is an extension of the dying major music industry. MySpace quickly got into bed with the majors, partnering with Interscope and selling out to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. They didn’t care about the importance of nurturing a career or promoting good music, they just cared about making money for themselves. Majors used it create a facade that the industry was vibrant again, and that they were at the forefront…….MySpace led bands to believe they didn’t have to do the hard work of getting out and building a live following anymore.
Excerpt from the rebutal from “Backstage Smarts” (a D.I.Y. touring musician):
As a member of a band who went national during the peak of Myspace (we’ve sold 70,000+ cds since then), I have to say that it did wonders for us, and I think the decline of Myspace seriously hurt the independent music community…..(On MySpace)People could post a song they liked on their page, and people would listen. We racked up over a million plays from this alone…..For a while, Myspace plays were just as valid as Sound Scan numbers. We were able to actually use them as leverage in negotiating our record deal. I could even predict how well a band we were playing with was going to draw based on their Myspace plays, and I was usually right…..But overall, I think there was way more net positives than negatives about Myspace for the music community, and I mourn the loss of it. I knew Facebook wouldn’t be as helpful to bands the first time I opened up our band’s Facebook page and had to ask, “Hey, where’s the music player?”
(To Hypebot’s credit, the layout of their comment feed is open, and facilitates this kind of healthy back and forth.)
I think it’s worth your time to read the full original post and response on Hypebot.
The Final Take: For the digerati, I’m not sure MySpace was ever cool. But if you think back to August 2006, as MySpace announced its 100 millionth account, MySpace was not only the biggest Social Networking site in the world, but arguably the single most coveted homepage for any contemporary artist.
Flash-forward to the present day — significant audience, advertising and buzz are gone, and it’s become fashionable to pile on. As if we never, ever, coveted MySpace’s attention in the first place.
This scenario reminds me of Michael Jackson. In 1982, Jackson released Thriller. By 1983-1984, Michael Jackson had won more Grammys and sold more Thriller albums than seemed conceivable. He may not have been cutting edge in any way, but he certainly was supremely talented, and he delivered the hits.
In the ensuing 25 years, Michael Jackson showed fewer moments of genius, and more instances of bizarre behavior. At the time of his death in 2009, Michael was about as uncool as an unnavigable, spam-ridden, Tila Tequila MySpace page.
Then Michael Jackson passed, and many of us heard songs like Man In The Mirror, Off The Wall, Billy Jean, Smooth Criminal, etc. in a way that we hadn’t in years.
Perhaps those songs aren’t as close to my heart as ‘Here Comes Your Man” or ‘Skyway“, but I truly loved them. And they were good business.
I never spent a ton of personal time on MySpace. I’m not saying that to try to be cool, or to create some editorial distance — it’s just a fact. Maybe I was simply behind — at least behind on the Social Networking revolution to come.
But now I wonder — in an industry in dire need of geniuses and winners — if MySpace passes completely, who will look in the mirror and deliver the hits?