Apple iTunes

Nov 15, 2007

Posted by: justin-fair

By Justin August

In this post Gen X civilization we live in, MySpace is rapidly becoming the most efficient way to promote your Band, yourself or your product, whatever that may be. So today we focus on the life of a new struggling band. With the millions of connected users on MySpace, the possibilities are definitely endless. But how do you find those who will become your fans, what will attract them to your page and get them to listen to your music? Let’s answer these questions one by one.

1) How do you find a Fan? Well, it as easy as figuring out what you are looking for in a fan? What age range are your targeting, what geographic location? Male or female? All of these can be searched for individually or as combined searches in the Myspace search engine.
2) What to say? When contacting your fans, you want to be wary of seeming as though you’re a computer generated spam. Make sure you can deliver a message that has some sort of personality to it, yet try not to be too lengthy. A quick, “hey, hello, this is who we are; you seem like someone that might enjoy us. Give us a listen and add us if you please.” Something to that extent will seem welcoming yet still put the choice in the soon to be listeners hand.
3) What should be on my page? Keep your page active, yet not so busy it takes forever to load. Listeners’ attention span is short when listening for the first time. Use a slide show, which can be created in your “edit/upload pictures” feature on your home page, with 6-10 pictures in it, showing your band at practice or a show, goofing off and of course if you have a pet mascot, a picture of whatever that is as well. You can also select the “manage my calendar” function on your homepage and update your events. Even if it’s a house party you’re playing or your rehearsal times, fans’ enjoy knowing as much about you as they can. This multitude of information helps keep interest and can be and should be updated and changed often in order to give your fans something to comeback for. Myspace also offers Musician Pages the chance to sell their music on their page. This feature is under the music upload section off your home page. Even if you only have 5 songs, use this feature! It may be dollars and cents at first, but with proper promotion and time, you will have a solid record of your sales from this one area and this can be used later when approaching an investor or a bank for a loan to produce your first full length album.
While this is merely a start in your career of self promotion, these 3 main tips will spill over into all of your attempts to market your band or whatever you may be promoting thru MySpace. Follow a strict regiment of contacting new listeners from all regions. Isolating large groups at a time and keeping your current listeners entertained with blogs, bulletins and new pics and of course music.