F-Secure's Own Press Releases Apparently Invisible To Its Employees

Bands With Online Popularity Want More Than A Gig In Second Life

from the turning-friends-into-fans dept

Tue, Aug 8th 2006 8:43am — Joseph Weisenthal

There was a time when bands would jokingly describe themselves as being "Big in Belgium", particularly if they had no discernible fan base locally. It's time to update that phrase to "Big on MySpace", as more and more bands are spreading their music and gaining loyal fans through the popular site. But while it's not new that bands are using MySpace to promote themselves, record labels should take note that many are finding it difficult to convert their online popularity to steady pay. The record labels are making a mistake by refusing to offer their services a la carte. If a band can do their own promotion, but needs help on the business and distribution side, then the labels should be eager to help out. At the moment, labels are skeptical of any band that claims only online popularity, citing the ability to game MySpace's friend lists. But it's pretty easy to discover what bands have passionate fans and which ones are just good at hyping themselves. Certainly, the music industry knows what hype looks like after all these years.

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16 Comments

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J*Ho, 8 Aug 2006 @ 9:21am

I know of plenty of bands that are always posting bullitens asking for more friends, or one band asking people to play there songs twice a day so they can go on the warped tour. Id rather have my friends tell me to go comment there pictures.
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esotericsean, 8 Aug 2006 @ 9:38am

the industry is right
there are all kinds of ways to add friends on myspace. people have created "myspace friend adders" which send out hundreds of friend requests a day. i think that myspace can help bands, but it shouldn't be a guide for talent or popularity for record labels.
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BillDivX, 8 Aug 2006 @ 10:20am

That's why
A la carte services would be good. Let the bands pay for the amounts and kinds of services they can afford. As they get bigger, and are able to make money, they will buy more services. Artist Control is good, mkay?
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shane, 8 Aug 2006 @ 10:27am

i don't understand what 2nd Life has to do with this story. Did i miss something?
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- joe, 8 Aug 2006 @ 10:47am
  
  Re:
  Shane,
  I suppose that title might have been a tad obscure. It was just meant to imply that bands that are popular online, in virtual space so to speak, want to break out and actually be popular offline as well.
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  - It's not the title that OBSCURE, 9 Aug 2006 @ 11:58pm
    
    Re: Re:
    THERE IS AN ONLINE GAME AND COMMUNITY THING CALLED SECOND LIFE YOU DWEEB. TECHDIRT EVEN HAS WRITTEN ABOUT IT. DON'T YOU GUYS HAVE *EDITORS*?!????
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    - Mike (profile), 10 Aug 2006 @ 12:31am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      THERE IS AN ONLINE GAME AND COMMUNITY THING CALLED SECOND LIFE YOU DWEEB. TECHDIRT EVEN HAS WRITTEN ABOUT IT. DON'T YOU GUYS HAVE *EDITORS*?!????
      
      Er. Yes. Joe was referring to the online game Second Life. What about his response made you think he wasn't? He was just pointing out that perhaps not everyone knew about Second Life, so perhaps the title was too obscure, since Second Life wasn't discussed in the article.
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Q, 8 Aug 2006 @ 10:31am

Myspace is good for bands, but they should not rely on only myspace/purevolume. A lot of record labels that I listen to won't even look at a band if they haven't done some sort of tour. Your band may be good but if you can't pull your stuff together and suffer through touring, you may not have what it takes.
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Motopsycho, 8 Aug 2006 @ 11:06am

RE: re
I thought it was a cute little joke referring to the earlier post about Duran Duran too ;)
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Ether Hour, 8 Aug 2006 @ 11:38am

I agree
I think bands need to balance on-line/off-line as was already stated. That being said, check out my band on-line and ask us to come play in your city!! Click here for Ether Hour
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Michael Long, 8 Aug 2006 @ 11:40am

Model...
So what happened to the "give your music away free and the profits will come" model? I thought they were supposed to be making all of their money off gigs and t-shirts...
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- billgod, 8 Aug 2006 @ 11:46am
  
  Re: Model...
  my band does make all our money from gigs and t-shirts.. well stickers since we have no $$ to make t-shirts. after 6 months of touring (a couple of shows a month) we now have $32.00 in the band fund :)
  
  myspace.com/mybandsticker
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Aug 2006 @ 12:08pm

MYSPACE.COM/BURNSEASON
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Music Underworl, 6 Sep 2006 @ 8:05am

Revolution?
Myspace has basically cheapened the music industry. If you have a nicely washed fringe and wear tight girls jeans even though you are a guy, emo myspace whore will love you.
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Sep 2006 @ 5:21am

yeye i see where your coming from and asking for more mates is needy most people will just go round adding people that they dont evan know one band that is genuine and ALL thier mats are their mates are the2nds from huddersfield england they will be the next best thing too hit your eardrums check thier myspace for more info www.myspace.com/the2nds
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mhowe@mail.com, 10 Oct 2006 @ 6:04am

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