Paulie007 on 13/6/2009 at 09:07
A friend's band, well it's more of a duo than a band. I think they
are pretty good but would be interested in some more objective
opinions. The guys are not very active online so I've posted this
on a few forums to get a broader range of views and feedback.
(
http://www.myspace.com/tarebo)
thanks for you precious time.
...your absurdly pompous opinions on myspace as a social networking website are also very much appreciated.
Starrfall on 13/6/2009 at 13:06
Honestly anytime someone says "hey check out my/a friend's band" and the link is to a myspace page the very first thing I think is STOP USING MYSPACE FUCK
That's really the best advice I have because myspace pages are so godawful I've stopped bothering even waiting for them and their piles of garbage to load. (It's not just up and coming bands either - if bands I like have myspace pages I pretend they don't exist. Musicians using myspace is almost as bad as politicians using twitter.)
Paz on 13/6/2009 at 15:20
Myspace also compresses the music quite severely (worse than youtube, I think), so if the tunes feature some tremendous dynamics then people won't be able to hear them.
I know that sounds like a totally pretentious audiophile thing that only lame-ass hipsters would care about, but it isn't (well, not entirely). Try uploading some Talk Talk or some jazz or whatever else with a wide dynamic range and have a listen. It'll probably sound kinda crappy. The same tune and everything, sure, but kinda crappy - lacking in depth.
You'd want the audio samples presented in the best possible light, right? If they've put any effort at all into the production/mix of the song then bunging them on Myspace is quite counter-productive. If the songs are already compressed to fuck then it probably doesn't matter. But then they're going to just sound bad everywhere.
That's aside from the aesthetics of the place ...
Fingernail on 13/6/2009 at 16:44
Unfortunately it's all but ubiquitous. And they do let you have 10 tracks now I think, used to be only 3.
Does anyone have any decent alternatives that come to mind? I've tried several, including:
Garageband.com - alright, but I feel mainly for bands and artists themselves as it's geared towards gaining reviews etc. and reviewing others. Sure, anyone can go there and listen, but it's not a simple (
www.something.com/mybandsname) and is anybody really interested in knowing what Bill from Colorado thought about a particular track other than the band themselves?
Facebook - making a page is all well and good but nobody really thinks of facebook for music, do they?
bebo - possibly even worse than myspace?
as well as several others I can't even remember the names of right now, basically either had poor interfaces or designs or a general dearth of actual users.
Paz on 13/6/2009 at 17:16
Is there a big reason why most bands no longer just host a couple of high-quality files on (
www.wooooahwesureareagreatband.com?)
Bandwidth, obviously. But surely that only kicks in as any kind of problem when you become indie darlings or whatever? I don't know the logistics or anything though, so maybe that's utter crap and 50+ fans would bankrupt you.
It's sad that so many go the myspace/whatever route and instantly forego an easy chance to add another little layer to their image. Not that IMAGE IS ALL or anything, but it definitely doesn't hurt to have a compelling narrative/style to go along with your songs. Farting your tracks semi-anonymously through the streaming mechanisms of a generic site doesn't really help a lot with that.
My opinions are horribly biased though because I want sexy dynamics and/or ART STATEMENTS in every song ever. Also don't listen to me if you ever want to sell any actual records.
Fingernail on 13/6/2009 at 17:31
Well, making a "proper" website can be quite hard to do well, for one thing. Mine is basically a download link and a picture. Maybe I'm too much of a perfectionist (ymmv) but music is what I'm best at, not web design, or visual marketing or graphics or anything like that really. So unless you happen to have a friend (who doesn't mind and actually ties in with your desired image) or are willing to pay someone - a good looking thing doesn't come THAT easily.
But also, although obviously no one really thinks music execs trawl myspace looking for THE NEXT BIG THING or that "perhaps if I have 200,000 friends I'll make it big", there have been occasions on which the social networking side has been advantageous; we've got a few gigs from promoters putting up ads or messaging us asking etc. which they may be less likely to do via google or what have you. Not a particularly strong argument, and when we actually do gigs, we invite our friends and fans on facebook anyway.
I mean, when I did post music here before it was always available as decent quality mp3s from a website as well as on myspace. It's just a thing that everyone is expected to have, people often ask "are you on myspace?" or "what's your myspace?" or "I'll take a listen on your myspace".
Those two sites look interesting, but I'll always be suspicious of sites that offer "GET FANS!" as a realistic proposition.
Starrfall on 13/6/2009 at 23:17
Righteously pompous thank you very much (see exhibit A above)
Muzman on 13/6/2009 at 23:26
Something has to be said for MySpace's achievement in making everything nice, quick and simple for making your own widget-tastic web site, with minimal coding and fuss, but leaving enough customisation room in just the right areas so you can still make it a fucking eye-boiling disgrace. Just like old times.
