Is MySpace Still Important for a Musician’s Online Presence?

Absolutely.

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Over the past year or so, MySpace’s visitor numbers have been on the decline, and they are now seeing around 47 million unique visitors per month. Despite the decline, that number is still pretty enormous. I know that many people (including myself) have a boatload of complaints about MySpace. Designing for it is a nightmare, comments are infested with spammers, the pages are slow loading, promotion is time consuming and yields little benefits, etc etc etc. While all of these inconveniences are true, there are several reasons why it is still worthwhile for musicians and bands to keep their MySpace pages alive.

High Google Search Rankings

MySpace pages still appear incredibly high in Google’s search results. I recently created a MySpace page for a band, and it was a few months after I had created their official website. The MySpace page was indexed and appeared in Google search results within a few days, while their official website was still pages back in the search results (and had been created and published a few months beforehand).

Also, I have noticed that whenever I recommend a new artist to friends, 9 times out of 10 they will tell me that they checked out the artist’s Myspace page to tune in, NOT the artist’s official website. It serves as the standard previewer for new ears to quickly listen in and form an opinion about the artist’s music, and whether it is worth further exploration.

Familiar Layout & Music Player

While MySpace pages can be hacked and fully customized, many of these “customized” layouts still utilize the core MySpace components, and even place them in the same general areas as the default MySpace layout. The most common of these components is the music player, which is usually located near the top of the artist’s page. It is easy to find, and you can quickly listen to a band’s music without having to navigate through several pages of fluff and promotional crap. This is especially advantageous for workers in the music industry who do not have time to sift through pages to uncover an artist’s music, which is often the first thing they will be looking for.

Recently, some industry thinkers have come to dislike the MySpace music player, and some have even suggested to remove it entirely, replacing it with Bandcamp or Fairtilizer widgets. I agreed with this notion for some time, but I think I’ve changed my mind.

MySpace’s music player still provides value. It is familiar and simple to use, and allows MySpace users to add songs that they like to their playlists (yes, people still do this). Also, the more plays you rack up in the player, the more visible your profile is when people browse and search on MySpace. When somebody visits a MySpace band page, listening to music is probably his or her main motivation for doing so. More likely than not, the person is already familiar with the MySpace player, and will be looking for that…so keep it high up on the page and visible.

Also, I am not saying that putting widgets from Bandcamp and other online stores is a bad idea for an artist. Why not have both? Place the store widgets underneath the MySpace music player somewhere, and clearly indicate that those widgets will take them to online music stores where they can purchase and download.

Clean Presentation of Tour Dates

Another reason that people (industry types and existing fans) visit an artist’s MySpace page is to check out upcoming tour dates. MySpace’s list of upcoming shows is laid out nicely, and provides all the basic information that a fan or music industry worker needs to know about an artist’s schedule. These upcoming shows can also be synced with the increasingly popular musician service, Artistdata. This way, you only have to enter the tour information ONCE, which is a very nice time saver and convenience. AND, you get a really cool widget they can be easily copy & pasted into your other websites.

So, musicians – don’t neglect your MySpace pages just yet.

Instead, try changing the way that you use it. Start treating your MySpace page more like an electronic press kit (EPK), and less like a social media website. I’m inclined to suggest that as an artist, try to make your MySpace page a place where newcomers and industry folks can catch an accurate and quick glimpse of your music/brand/style/etc, and find sufficient information to contact you if necessary.

A quick glance at the comments section of your profile will probably reveal that not much interaction or fan relationship building is going on there. Stop wasting your valuable time sending “shot in the dark” messages to people you’ve never met, posting bulletins that nobody reads, and spending hours browsing and adding people within 15 miles of your hometown. Let that stuff happen organically. Respond to people that reach out to you on MySpace, don’t force yourself upon others in an effort to shamelessly self-promote in a space already oversaturated with that junk.

The majority of non-users that visit MySpace do so through an artist’s profile. They want to get in, check out the artist real quick, and leave. You are going to want to grab their attention, but still keep the familiar layout and elements so that the person can navigate quickly and find exactly what they are looking for. Don’t bank on people staying on your MySpace for too long. Instead try to redirect them to your official websites, stores, and the social media sites where the bulk of your fan interaction occurs.

Here are some suggestions on how musicians can tweak their MySpaces to make them more effective information sources for industry folks and potential fans:

1. Revert back to the default MySpace layout. Only customize the header, background, and color scheme to reflect your brand/vibe. I highly recommend starting with this layout hack, that allows you to add a customized header.
2. If you must move the MySpace music player, move it higher up on the page. Never down. Click here to find out how to move it.
3. The music in your MySpace player should always be up-to-date, but also keep your most popular tracks in there so newcomers can get a taste of both old & new.
4. Provide links to your official website, online stores, and all of the social networking sites where real fan interactions happen. These should be high up on the page as well, preferably in the customized header somewhere.
5. If you have videos, include some embeddable widgets in the “bio” section of your page. This is where industry folks and fans expect videos to be. If you must, you can place a cool new video in the customized header to grab people’s attention.
6. Get an Artistdata account (for free), import your show details there, and sync it with your MySpace page so you only have to enter the information once. Then, copy & paste the embeddable shows widget that Artistdata gives you anywhere on the web!

These are just a few short suggestions, but try them out. You’ll be well on your way to transforming your MySpace page from a shameless self-plug to a place where newcomers, fans, and industry folks can find quick, useful information about your music.