WHY Myspace Used to Be the Ideal Place for Rock Bands/
The Death of Myspace
By Sue Basko, esq.
Myspace USED to work perfectly and was a showcase for rock bands and musicians at EVERY level of their careers. Everyone was on it, from the beginner to the superstar.
I used to have a beautiful music myspace, with slide shows and videos embedded on the front face -- and a huge photo up on top. I used it as a showcase for my legal/ music work, featuring videos and photos of people with whom I was working.
I work with rock bands, and I told all of them to use their myspace to create a showcase for themselves -- using HTML to give themselves a great background and layout that was unique to their style and message. Also, to put slide shows and embed videos on the front page.
WHAT MADE THIS POSSIBLE on the "old" myspace:
1) The flexibility of the page with HTML coding possible;
2) companies that sprang up providing layout codes, banners, etc, for free;
3) myspace has GREAT SEO (search engine optimization);
4) myspace allowed users to choose their own URL name, so these could easily be the band name if it was not already taken;
5) photo slideshow capability in many nice designs;
6) embed capability for videos from youtube right onto the page;
7) interior workings that really worked - the current page does not work, period, with long delays and entire functions that are not functioning;
8) front page of a myspace is totally open to the public even if they were not "members" of myspace -- this is what made myspace THE BEST for rock bands! There was no registering, no belonging required -- and anyone, anywhere in the world could hear a few songs of the band, see a nice slide show, listen to some videos of the group in performance.
The front pages are still open, but they now look terrible, are barely legible, have no style because there is no HTML capability, no embeds, no slideshows, the music player has ads, the photo quality and layout is abysmal (and the user can no longer control this) and the whole myspace experience is now quite dismal and unusable.
But the MAIN PROBLEM is that myspace now loads terribly slowly, even on a fast computer and fast internet connection. This makes it all but completely unusable by the viewer or the myspace owner. The programming of the myspace now just does - not - work. Period.
Myspace (before this change) was the ideal source for music journalists, bloggers, bookers, agents, record labels, radio DJs, agents, manager, venues, festivals, and fans -- to check out a rock band -- with no strings attached. The old myspace was widely used by the most major agents, record labels, and television shows as a source to locate new music and talent! It cannot be used for this now!
Myspace was always the showcase for bands. It was where you could send potential bookers, etc. Even record labels used it to screen potential signees. It was a one-stop place to see and hear the band upfront, real easy. Now it cannot be that. It is such a shame.
Myspace also used to have a wonderful blog set-up. I used my myspace blog regularly for serious blog essays as well as for embedding videos of musicians in performance. Myspace blogs had such great SEO that I could get hundreds of hits within hours of posting each blog. Now, the blog is buried, non-functioning, and a huge mess.
The computer programming that went into creating the "new myspace" was not done right, and none of the elements on it work properly. All over the internet, you can read complaints from the most avid users of myspace. Myspace has ruined itself.
This is the death of myspace, by suicide. Never have I seen a business ruin all the good things it has going in one swoop. All I can figure is someone is intentionally trying to kill myspace so they can take it over, whoever "they" is. The thing is, with the way people are jumping ship and being disgusted, there won't be much to take over.
Thanks for reading. You can email me at SueBaskoMusic@gmail.com