MySpace is the fastest growing social-networking site ever. With that said, it’s pretty safe to say that MySpace has everything – and everyone. Alongside top friends, profile views and blog entries is something even more important than the bulletin a friend posted last night: music. In fact, as it turns out, MySpace Music is creating a whole new way of going about becoming famous rock-stars.

In 2005, right after the MySpace brand was purchased by Rupert Murdoch, the owner of Fox news and 20th Century Fox, Murdoch launched MySpace Records to tap into the masses of relatively unknown music that already existed on the newly acquired site.

MySpace Records’ goal was to find artists on MySpace and get them signed as the next big thing. And for people like Sean Kingston and Tila Tequila, that certainly has been the case. Both were discovered by MySpace, and both used MySpace to launch themselves as celebrities. MySpace reports Kingston and Tequila are in good company, with more than 8 million artists and bands on MySpace Music. Lily Allen, the Arctic Monkeys and even Dane Cook were all found thanks to MySpace and MySpace members as well.

And there are a lot of members. According to the blog TechRadar, MySpace reports it has over 100 million active personal accounts, adding about 300,000 new accounts every day. That’s a fan base that musicians now have at their disposal.

But like Kingston and Tequila, musicians have to start somewhere, and for lesser known artists and bands, turning to their MySpace accounts and MySpace Music accounts seems like the best way to launch themselves as serious, professional musicians.

ASU alumnus Nick Shelby Granum is a singer and guitarist for the band Kings of Last Call. He’s been playing for thirteen years, and has been in his current band for just over six months.

“We’re still babies, as far as bands go,” Granum jokes, though with some honesty, as his band’s profile page has had just under 3,000 profile views. They have less than 200 MySpace friends, nothing compared to the millions Tequila or Kingston have.

Granum states that even before Kings of Last Call was together, the members were on the MySpace scene, “I created the Kings’ page when I registered the band name, though the band was yet to exist.”

He wanted to be sure they could secure the MySpace page, because, like many others, Granum is using MySpace Music to build a fan base.
“In my last band, we cultivated almost our entire following using MySpace. We were very careful to add only people whose interests indicated they may like us, though,” he says.

His last band gave has given Granum years of experience on the MySpace scene. “I would guess that my last band, Kira’s Rage, jumped on the MySpace bandwagon in mid-2005,” Granum says. “The other guitarist insisted that all members create personal pages as well so we could better communicate with our, at the time, nonexistent fan-base. He was, of course, right in his assessment of MySpace as the ‘future of music,’ at least to a certain degree.”

MySpace Music has, for Granum at least, become a powerful tool to find other musicians to work with.Granum says he and his other band members spend a great deal of time on MySpace, attempting to find other bands they could ideally collaborate with at shows.

“MySpace Music is, by far, the best resource available for networking with other bands. Many bands that we have played with originally contacted us through MySpace, or vice versa,” Granum says.

This sort of collaboration is exciting for a young musician who dreams of hitting it big with guitar in hand.

“I’ve had the opportunity to play on bills with some really great bands, including the Rentals and Eve 6, thanks, at least in part, to MySpace.”
There’s nothing close in comparison to MySpace Music, as a music marketing tool either.

“The Kings of Last Call also has a Facebook page, though it currently contains no content. I’ve been in bands that had ‘official Web sites’ in the past, but those are pretty unnecessary now,” Granum says.

All these benefits, and more, have caused Granum to get his own solo artist Myspace Music account. His account has been around much longer than Kings of Last Call, and boasts more than 11,000 profile views and over 400 friends.

“I created my ‘solo’ MySpace Music page when I began writing and demo-ing songs that would never be considered for use by Kira’s Rage, which was a highly collaborative effort.”

But despite all of the benefits, there are some misconceptions about MySpace and MySpace Music, one being that it is the fast track to stardom. Kings of Last Call aren’t signed, and recently MySpace Music has made it harder for musicians to find future fans.

“The whole MySpace thing has recently been made much more difficult for us. The bots, or programs that automatically add friends, ruined it for everybody,” Granum says. “We all got tired of getting multiple friend requests from the same terrible band over and over, so MySpace put in place user options to prevent this from happening. Now adding friends can be extremely time consuming and frustrating, given the number of users who block band requests.”

But it’s all worth it, Granum assures.

“Largely, [Myspace] benefits artists. It’s changed the expectations of club owners, promoters and other musicians, however,” Granum says. “Musicians are now expected to maintain a MySpace page and the page is expected to have pictures and sound clips so others know exactly what each band or artist is about. To that end, its probably hurt artists who just aren’t very good, or perhaps, less fairly, who just aren’t cute,” he says.

MySpace Music has also helped Granum through the tough times.

“I’d like to say it’s the sense of accomplishment I’ve felt in creating the things I’ve created, or helped create, but I’d be lying,” he says. “Some external validation really is necessary to keep the fire going inside. I’ve had people tell me that such and such is their favorite song or that we were their favorite band. I’ve been in a band that headlined one sellout show – our CD release party. I’ve shared the stage with some of my heroes and had one of them ask me if I was interested in starting a band; though it never happened, being asked was one of those little victories.”

Among the Kings of Last Call’s plans is releasing their first CD. “First and foremost, [we are] finishing the Kings of Last Call record. We are about halfway done with the full-length. We’re doing occasional shows now, but after the record comes out, we’ll play more around town and hopefully take the show on the road.”

MISS VO

ASU management junior Paulina Vo , better known as “Miss Vo” to her fans, is one of those artists who isn’t letting her lack of a label stop her. While she struggles to make it, she has witnessed a fair amount of success with her MySpace Music page. Her profile has had over 48,000 views, and her oldest song has had more than 18,000 plays.

“MySpace has greatly connected me with people I never really thought I could connect with,” Miss Vo says. “I love reading comments and trying to respond to them. It’s just a great way to get criticism and opinions, both good and bad.”

Alongside her tens of thousands of profile views, Miss Vo has been featured on Phoenix News station 3-TV. She admits that they found her MySpace Music page and contacted her via MySpace.

“Being on Channel 3 was fun. It was a great experience and not too nerve-wrecking.”

Miss Vo believes MySpace Music helps musicians and listeners alike.

“Exposure to unsigned talent has been improved greatly. Unsigned talent or indie talent consists of some of the most incredible artists,” Miss Vo says. “It’s fantastic that you don’t have to necessarily sell yourself or ‘sell out’ to express yourself. MySpace has allowed for easier access for both the musician and the listener.”

According to Miss Vo, MySpace does have a few negative effects. One thing, there are a ton of faux MySpace Music accounts that are basically robots attempting to hack people’s accounts. And then there are people who abuse the system by recording songs off of MySpace Music accounts and then putting them up on peer-to-peer music sharing sites, such as LimeWire.

But Miss Vo is quick to point out that it couldn’t exist without rising technologies in general, like the exponential growth of the internet and its widespread usage. “MySpace just happens to be something everyone has access to.”

Miss Vo, like most MySpace musicians, remains unsigned for the time being, but hopes it changes when she releases her first CD in October.

RADIO WAVES

Junior Becky Bartkowski is one of the promoters who has recently seen her expectations rise in response to MySpace Music. Like thousands of other promoters, Bartowski uses MySpace Music to find artists. As the Station Manager for KASC’s The Blaze 1260AM, ASU’s radio station, Bartkowski spends her days finding music to play on air, and booking local bands for concerts.

“I use MySpace to scope out new Arizona bands, since I host a local music show on The Blaze 1260AM called The Basement. It’s on Sunday nights from 8 to 10 p.m., and features a live in-studio performance from a local band every week. [MySpace Music] makes my job infinitely easier because bands in the local music scene are so interconnected,” she says.

ASU’s radio station, The Blaze 1260AM, has its own MySpace Music page, with just under 12,000 profile views and over 1,400 friends.

Bartkowski believes MySpace really benefits the artists, but will eventually weed out the less talented.

“MySpace is a fantastic tool for bands looking to gain exposure and a following. Fans can download songs, memorize lyrics, put favorite tunes on their profiles and read blogs not only about bands in their neighborhoods but all over the world,” Bartkowski says. “If bands interact well with their fans over the Internet and recognize the power word of mouth has, particularly when it comes to music, MySpace is a practically perfect outlet. It’s all about self-promotion and making connections, and while it has the potential to go poorly, it will ultimately leave the strongest to survive,” she says.

It’s all about choice, she says.

“MySpace Music’s purpose is to give everyone a voice, and allow only those who wish to listen the opportunity. It’s all about choice, individuality and finding music that otherwise would likely go unheard.”

Bartkowski not only notes that artists benefit hugely by MySpace Music, but also that it benefits the fans.

“There’s awesome potential to create a buzz online, similar to how major labels would create a buzz around a single on the radio or a video on MTV. But now bands don’t need labels to be heard, just a strong online following of dedicated fans. As an artist, anyone can listen to your songs, find out about upcoming shows and even send messages directly to you.”

It’s the buzz that will hopefully go beyond the internet and maybe on to the airwaves of the radio. And for Tequila and Kingston, that buzz has come and gone, but for Granum’s King of Last Call and Miss Vo’s solo career, only time will tell.

— raymond.ceo@asu.edu

Check out Kings of Last Call at: www.myspace.com/kingsoflastcall
Check out Paulina Vo at: www.myspace.com/paulina
Check out The Blaze 1260AM at: www.myspace.com/theblaze1260