To me, MySpace is the online equivalent of a mall’s Hot Topic store. In case you're not familiar with them, Hot Topic is a self-described “punk” styled clothing store. However, when that includes Aerosmith and Lynyrd Skynyrd merchandise (no joke), I dare say that their punk-cred would appear somewhat compromised, to say the least. (I’m not casting judgement on Aerosmith or Lynyrd Skynyrd’s musical abilities — they’re just pretty much the opposite of punk.)
All the same, plenty of Generation Y poseurs like to shop at Hot Topic, thinking they’re edgy and counterculture when in reality they’re lining the pockets of The Man. And that’s where MySpace fits in. Sure, many users think of it as their private treehouse for them and their closest friends, but when your treehouse is home to 72 million other people, your exclusive club isn’t so exclusive, now is it?
To be sure, I have nothing against capitalism. Yes, I’m the kind of guy that buys beverages at Starbucks, and happily — hey, if a given company happens to be profitable due to an effective business model, I’m ok with that. (Well, as long as said company isn’t evil; see also Clear Channel.) Having said that, if you like MySpace because it’s a a website offering “photos, blogs, user profiles, groups, and an internal e-mail system”, that’s fine. It just doesn’t mean you’re more 3l337 for the sake of doing so.
Getting back to KMFDM, I enjoy their music and I’m on their online mailing list (so far, so good). However, in the mailing sent out today, they proudly announce the 1-year anniversary of their MySpace page. Well, what’s the use in having a MySpace page if you have a perfectly good actual domain name? All right, the maneuver be excused if they’re merely trying to make their music available to more listeners. All the same, a part of me is worried a bit that KMFDM could be somewhat HotTopicifying itself — making ventures based on marketing perception rather than substance.
Why Hot Topic is good: Robot Earrings
Why MySpace is bad: those imbedded music files.
(this live preview is very spifftacular of you.)
Robot Earrings, eh? I presume those would be earrings made up of tiny robots, as opposed to earrings designed to have their wearer resemble a robot?
Almost every independent band I know has a myspace page in addition to a domain. The number of mainstream or major label bands on myspace is far less. What’s your point, Alex? Who has the cred?
I’d guess people use it because it’s easy to maintain and update. You can have music files without letting people download them ((blah!) and therefore know how many people/ times your songs actually get listened to). Additionally, it’s a community; it’s easy to find one band you like and, from there, find other bands among their “friends” which you might also like. Or so I’m told.
I have no idea why you think myspace is comparable hot topic. I mean, I’d rather bands have heavily updated websites with downloadable mp3s (like my hero) but I don’t think that can be expected from everyone. Myspace is more like typepad or blogspot or livejournal: it’s easy to set up and use and it’s free, so people use it.
Don’t get me wrong — I have nothing against people who use MySpace for its functionality and community. And, I’m not saying that all MySpace users are poseurs, either ;). I suppose my gripe is with people who are on MySpace for the purpose of being on MySpace.
I didn’t realize KMFDM was still around. I last saw them in 1990 opening for Ministry. I’d never been a big fan but the show rocked.
My only interaction with MySpace has been with the band pages and those embedded music players. It is nice having full length tracks to check out in a centralized place versus Googling for band sites that may or may not have decent audio to preview.
myspace is too big and too much mainstream for me,
althought i like to tune pages and add rock music videos (http://www.rockmyspace.info)