MySpace Music interaction tips

So your band has a MySpace Music page, not a personal page, but a Band or Artist Account. That's the first step: making sure you don't sign up for a personal MySpace page, because you won't get the 6 song mp3 player, nor will you be in the musician circuit.

But let's say you've been on MySpace Music for a while now. You know how to detect spam profiles requesting to Friend you and other dubious ploys. You've accumulated a lot of Friends, mostly other bands. It's always good when other bands, especially in your genre, are aware of your band. Collaborations, compilation CDS, performance slots, tours, and other opportunities can arise. Not to mention encouragement and beneficial scoldings when appropriate.

You've Friended many bands you admire, your inspirations and influences. How do you interact with them, in a way that will be neither fawning or self-promo spamming? How often should you post a comment? What should you say? Should you use Photo Bucket to post an image, or paste in HTML of your own captured or created images?

Here are some suggestions based on my own experience and observations.





MySpace Music
Interaction Tips




1. Comment Reciprocity

Bands don't reply to comments in their own comment field. This is an exceptional deviation from the practice of all other blogs and forums. It seems almost like an unarticulated rule: don't reply to comments in your own comment box. Go to that band or person's page and "comment back" over there.

Don't expect a return comment from anybody. Most bands are too busy touring, recording, rehearsing, jamming, drugging, posing for photos, and chasing women or girly boys, as the case may be. They don't want to appear unemployed, unperforming, and unpopular by responding to your comments.

They are icons, after all, better than you and me. We are mere fans, whose only role is to admire the Exalted Stars, bully others into admiring the All Perfect Ones, and purchasing tickets and CDs/DVDs of these Superior Art Beings.

If they're bored, they might Comment Back with a remark on your band's page. But probably, they're too wasted or they're working. Unlike your band.





2. Images in Comments

Don't use Photo Bucket, as their images are often deleted, leaving a stupid looking hole in your comment. Very unprofessional. Paste in HTML for your own image. I create an image, upload it to my blog here, then copy the HTML for the uploaded image in my post template. Then with the image code in my clipboard, I can Paste it into any text entry field, except when a MySpace Music user blocks all HTML code in comments to their page.


A common practice, that I personally like the most, is to embed an irrelevant, non-self promotional artwork or photo, the weirder and nonsensical the better. Please refrain from angel, demon, fairy, and dragon images. We're all sick of them, especially the glittery glowing type.







3. Bands You Like

Don't bug them too much, but your first comment should be how you discovered them, what you like about their sound, which of their songs are your favorites, what CDs of theirs you own, what songs they should consider putting up on their player, what YouTube videos by them you like best, or how (specifically, with examples) they have inspired you.

"New tunes up on our player. Check them out!" is a lame comment. When all your comment does is pump up your own shit, it makes you look desperate, opportunistic, and losery.

Post comments about where you've seen the band, what you like about their new material, what you wish were different about their new material, and what CDs you've bought by them lately.









4. Photo of You and the Band's CD

I make this tip a separate point, because it's so great. I invented it, as far as I know.

Get your webcam or digital camera, and take a photo of you, dressed really cool or strangely, holding their CD up close to the lens.

Then post that image at the MySpace Music page of that band. Add text like "Look what I bought at Coop Records in Peoria, Ill in Noise today!" The specifics make it memorable.

The band members may say: "Wow. Some moron in the hick town Peoria recklessly wasted his money on our new CD. What a chump!" and therefore will like you more than fans who just say "I worship you. I've decided to stalk you." and boring crap like that.







5. Band Photos

I've noticed how hip a fan appears when they post photos of a band on that band's page. It show that that fan probably attended a show, took photos of the band, and now is blessing the band with audience-generated promotional content that the band can use.

Never take photos that focus only on the band dead on. That's so boring and typical. Get a few like that, but more importantly, get photos of the band AND the audience. If there was a huge crowd attending the show, display that fact in a photo. If some oddly dressed characters were in the audience, take photos of them.








6. Self Promotion

Avoid it as much as possible. When you do cave in to the egotistical bullshit of self promo, at least be a lady or gentleman about it. Begin with praising the band you've decided to "use" to promote your shit. Say something nice about them or their music or their videos. Then just post an image of what you want to promote. A show poster. A photo of your new CD cover. An image made to announce a new song you just uploaded to your mp3 player.

I think that's a more refined way to push your own junk.

You'll probably get more reciprocating comments and Friend Requests when you post good content, cool image and clever text, as comments on the MySpace Music pages of other bands.

Just remember to give out specific compliments and tell the bands what you wish you could say to them in person, face to face.

By sincerely complimenting other bands, via business karma mechanics, you'll drive new listeners and fans to your own music. It's mutually beneficial, a real win-win situation as the business pundits say.