How To Get Your Band Signed To A Record Label
by Pandie Suicide
Getting signed is at the top of a lot of bands to-do lists. It marks the pinnacle of their careers, a sign that you’re really ‘making it.’ But with things the way that they are in this digital age, the whole industry structure of record labels, who historically found bands and other artists, signed them for a (sometimes) nice advance, then released, promoted, and distributed the album (or at least oversaw all of this happening)… has changed.
[Lelaina in Graf Park]
Nowadays, the industry has been reduced to a few select major labels, and many smaller, more independent or niche labels, due to the availability of every flavour of music in the world online for free or otherwise – CD’s in some ways are becoming obsolete. Even the concept of an album is becoming somewhat redundant in some aspects – when individual tracks are available on iTunes for 99c a piece, why wouldn’t you just purchase the three songs you like most, rather than paying ten bucks for the whole thing?
Some musicians today are bypassing the traditional record company route and going guerrilla-style with great results, such as my buddy DJ FM of Psycho Realm, who sold something like 10,000 copies of his Mixtape (on CD not cassette!) out of the trunk of his car, or Mary Magdalan who made a living off their homemade albums by selling them on iTunes and on self-pressed CDs at shows with good results. Many other bands, simply record/produce their own album and obtain distribution through stores like Best Buy etc themselves, completely bypassing the record company – and keeping all of the profits. Record companies definitely take a cut of your profits, but there is a reason for this, unless you’re a master of the internet or a self-promoting guru, it is a lot harder to do EVERYTHING, from writing to recording to pressing to releasing to promoting to distributing etc, the album by yourself, and it can be really hard to get that “household name” success of the Beatles, or Beyonce or Marilyn Manson without a major or large indie, label backing you up. It’s not impossible, but it is a lot harder, and if you’re up for the challenge, more power to you!
It’s not all bad news though, there are success stories everyday, and with the advent of the internet, it may really be a blessing in disguise rather than the end of record labels forever, as new and innovative ways to utilize this medium are discovered for finding bands, promoting bands and sell, sell, selling bands. A huge return to the ‘live’ experience has happened also, where playing live shows is so important, with music so easy to obtain online and offline, fans want the authentic experience of a live show, and it can be the make or break way to prove yourself as the “real thing” to a world that has just soo much music in it. So it is definitely important to work on your live show, and use the internet to give yourself a presence online for fans, friends and record labels to take notice and interact with you, most of which is important whether you want a label or not.
But after all this, if you still want to get signed in this strange digital age, I’ve come up with a few pieces of advice for you, some from insiders at record labels, music managers and success stories:
“The best advice I could give to any band who is trying to make career in music and looking to sign with a record label is TOUR TOUR TOUR! Buy a van and trailer, start booking your own shows and networking and don’t look back. The more shows you play the tighter your band will get, the more connections you will make all over the country, and you will gain real fans who will come back and support you next time you come to their town. Second piece of advice would be make sure you interact with your fans as often as possible, via twitter, facebook, live chats, and most importantly at shows. Hang out, don’t play your set and then disappear to your van for the rest of the night, hang out and interact with fans and other bands. If a label can see that you’re working hard promoting your own band, interacting with your fans, and touring as much as humanly possible they will be more likely to sign your band because they know that you already have a solid fan base who supports your band and will buy the records that the label puts out. A lot of people who start new bands think that they can sit at home and record a great album and submit it to a label and everything else will fall into place. It doesn’t work that way at all.” – Tim Patenaude, Metal Blade Records
“Make sure your shit is dope” and get your stuff on YouTube and get that YouTube page looking amazing because – “YouTube is the most visited website in the world, and the player is BETTER than MySpace” – Scott Koenig, King Artist Management, managing Fear Factory, Divine Heresy, Yeti, By Any Means Necessary
Read Music Connection religiously. You can download a PFD of the magazine or even just certain pages that interest you, all for free. It features inside info on the music industry and is a trade publication for musicians, bookers, label people, publicity people, music publishers and more. It contains invaluable information for bands, for example, the current issue features a “26th annual directory of rehearsal studios – 175 contacts!” and “7 ways to be more effective on Facebook”, “Kill or be killed 24 foolproof ways to improve your LIVE gigs” a “Q & A with the Devil Wears Prada” and more scintillating, useful articles as well as profiling important people in the industry. What is even more to your advantage though, as an up and coming band, is the fact that Music Connection has several pages where it features reviews and profiles of unsigned/ newly signed bands, albums and performances, along with artist’s contact info etc, and if you sign up on musicconnection.com with your band’s info and submit yourself, (which I highly recommend) you may get into the magazine, and not only will you have a nice clipping for your mum, but you might just be seen by people who count.
Having said that, get as much press as possible – if you have an album already, send it to magazines both online and offline for review, send it to radio stations, especially college radio – they love unsigned bands, offer yourselves up for interviews – and work on your interview skills, the more interesting/ intelligent/ funny etc you come across as, the more chance you have of being published and therefore noticed by potential fans or record labels. That said, try to be authentic, you want to present the best image possible in an interview and get the best info about yourselves out there, but you still want it to be your image and info, not somebody else’s!
Make friends in the industry! (aka “networking” but nicer) I don’t mean be all fake and “Hollywood” about it, but a little politeness and courtesy can go a long way. However, if you can cultivate real friendships within the industry, and it shouldn’t be too hard – these people have one big interest in common with you, they all love music – you will go far. It’s like any industry really, the whole “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know” does, unfortunately, (or fortunately?) apply. That said, don’t ruin a good friendship by being too pushy with your friend at the label, or step on anyone’s toes, and don’t expect to get signed just because your friend’s Dad is a shareholder in Interscope or something, it might help, but there’s only so much a friend can do, the rest is up to you – make sure your demo/album/ live performance/youtube channel/twitter etc is up to scratch before you try to call in that favour, because if what you give your buddy is a piece of unfinished crap, and they take a chance on you, they will probably never help you again when you give birth to your real masterpiece.
Spend some time in LA playing shows at whatever clubs you can – you never know who might be there. Good places to play include anywhere along the historic Sunset Strip, such as the Key Club, Whisky A Go Go, The Roxy, Viper Room and various Hollywood Clubs which also look great on your resume or band Wikipedia page. As well, this time in LA is a great opportunity to make some friends (see above), record, mix or master a new record, do some publicity or set up some meetings with potential labels, bookers etc.
Good luck!!!!
Terrible Woman's MySpace Alias Leads to Teen's Suicide.
It was hard enough getting my heart broken face-to-face when I was in middle school. I'm so glad that the Internet was not available to me at age 13. I can't imagine going home at night, logging on to MySpace and getting rejected by other boys from all over the country.
DARDENNE PRAIRIE, Missouri (AP)-- Megan Meier thought she had made a new friend in cyberspace when a cute teenage boy named Josh contacted her on MySpace and began exchanging messages with her.
Megan, a 13-year-old who suffered from depression and attention deficit disorder, corresponded with Josh for more than a month before he abruptly ended their friendship, telling her he had heard she was cruel.
The next day Megan committed suicide.
That's pretty sad and fucked up, right? What if I told you that "Josh" was not a teenage boy but Megan's neighbor who created a fake MySpace account? That sucks. Kids can be so cruel, right? They sure can and so can their moms. "Josh" was created by a mother/daughter team. They live down the street from the Meier family.
[The woman who created the fake profile] allegedly told the St. Charles County Sheriff's Department she created Josh's profile because she wanted to gain Megan's confidence to know what Megan was saying about her own child online.
The mother from down the street told police that she, her daughter and another person all typed and monitored the communication between the fictitious boy and Megan.
A person who answered the door at the family's house told an Associated Press reporter on Friday afternoon that they had been advised not to comment.
What a great way to gain the confidence of a depressed 13-year-old girl, create a fake identity! Eventually the vulnerable, pubescent girl will fall in love with Josh. She'll be devastated upon finding out that he doesnt exist but screw it! Let's worry about that later. On to more important things like tricking Megan into talking shit!
Megan's father found a message from "Josh" the day after the suicide.
Her father said he found a message the next day from Josh, which he said law enforcement authorities have not been able to retrieve. It told the girl she was a bad person and the world would be better without her, he has said.
I can't stress enough how fucked up it is that someone's mother wrote that. There's not much that can be done legally (yet).
Tina Meier said law enforcement officials told her the case did not fit into any law. But sheriff's officials have not closed the case and pledged to consider new evidence if it emerges.
But equally negligent in my opinion are Megan's parents. I go to therapy. Therefore I am perfect and can tell you how others should live. The Meier's made some bad parenting decisions (in my opinion).
First Bad Decision:
You must be at least 14-year-old to have a MySpace account. Megan was 13. She's too young to be emailing with strange boys. Have her parents never watched "To Catch a Predator"?
Second Bad Decision
Megan had attention deficit disorder and was medicated for clinical depression. Perhaps she needed more stimulation from actual real-life friendships.
Third Bad Decision
After Megan confided in her mother that her new friend Josh was turning on her, Mrs. Meier scolded her for using bad language on MySpace.
Someone using Josh's account was sending cruel messages. Then, Megan called her mother, saying electronic bulletins were being posted about her, saying things like, "Megan Meier is a slut. Megan Meier is fat."
Megan's mother, who monitored her daughter's online communications, returned home and said she was shocked at the vulgar language her own daughter was sending. She told her daughter how upset she was about it.
Fourth Bad Decision
Megan had been on medication, but had been upbeat before her death, her mother said, after striking up a relationship on MySpace with Josh Evans about six weeks before her death.
Mom, it's not good if your depressed teen with self-esteem issues is suddenly happy because a boy gives her attention. She's probably going to take the beginning and ending of their friendship waaaay too seriously.
I wasnt there so what do I know? This struck me as curious though:
Megan's parents are now separated and plan to divorce.
I know that trauma can tear families apart but I know that it can also bring them together. I find this divorce interesting. Were they having marital problems before? Was Megan depressed because her home life sucked? Were the Meier's hoping that the love of some boy in cyber-space would snap their daughter out of a funk?
Sure, Mrs. Meier monitored Megan's internet use and came down on her for foul language but did she ever talk to Megan about building healthy self-esteem? Did she warn her daughter of the dangers of trying to build self-worth through the attention of boys?
The only revenge that Mrs. Meier has taken against her neighbor so far involves dismantling a foosball table on their lawn.
Megan's parents had been storing a foosball table for the family that created the MySpace character. Six weeks after Megan's death, they learned the other family had created the profile and responded by destroying the foosball table, dumping it on the neighbors' driveway and encouraging them to move away.
I would encourage people like this to reconsider becoming parents until they can learn how to play fair.
MySpace Events: MTV invites you to: Presidential Candidate Dialogue with John Edwards!
Remember how taboo and controversial MTV used to be? Back in the day groups like the Moral Majority used the sex, drugs and rock and roll regularly appearing on Music Television to demonize youth culture and scare the bejeezus out of easily excitable parents. Hell, Madonnas "Like a Prayer" video caused a complete and total nationwide hissy fit, with its burning crosses, heaving bosoms and black Jesuses. Man, Madonna was hot back then. Mmmmm
Oops, sorry
I digress. The death knell of MTVs rebellious reputation really rang in 1992. Candidates in the Democratic primary, still several years away from the proliferation of 24-hour news channels and desperate for any sort of national attention they could get, looked to MTV as a way to reach out to young voters .
Of course, no one used MTV to greater effect than Bill Clinton, who would later be derisively called the MTV President by conservative pundits and saxophone fans alike. After coming out of nowhere to win the Democratic nomination, Clinton was the first candidate from any party to go on MTV and field questions from viewers in an hour-long town hall style format. Fielding questions ranging from the hard-hitting (what are your opinions on abortion rights?) to the not-so-hard-hitting (Boxers or briefs?), it was a format that Clinton was born to take part in. After his eventual victory, many political scientists pointed to Clintons MTV appearances as a major factor in his electoral success.
For example, during the 1992 election, then-candidate Bill Clinton used both MTV to reach young Americans and the Arsenio Hall talk show to reach African-Americans in south-central Los Angeles and other areas. This was very effective, Professor Jenkins said.
"He had a chance to reach a percentage of the voters he couldn't reach during the evening news," he said. "After Clinton's appearance on MTV, America had the highest voter turnout for 18-to-24-year-olds since 18-year-olds could vote."
Thus, the formula to reach young voters ever since has been to visit MTV early and often. This holds true especially for Democrats, who dont have to worry as much about turning off stodgy old coots (who arent going to vote for them anyway) by appearing in such a skin and sin-friendly environment. Some Republicans, on the other hand, see it as beneath them. Frankly, who can blame them? This is the same network that brought us My Super Sweet 16. For that alone Id have reservations about appearing on the network and Im a liberal Democrat from San Francisco. And don't even get me started on subjecting us to Bam Margera. Assholes. Anyway, MTV ceased to become relevant 10 years ago, so theres no reason politicians need to keep bowing down at the Moonman altar, right?
Tell that to John Edwards. And Hillary Clinton. And Rudy Giuliani. And John McCain. And Chris Dodd. And Barack Obama. And Duncan Hunter (who actually is a presidential candidate too. Really, I looked him up!) They are among a total of 11 presidential candidates from both sides of the aisle who have signed up to participate in Presidential Candidate Dialogues with MTV. This being the internet age, MTV is co-sponsoring these Dialogues with that other twin tower of youth culture erosion: Myspace.com. Be afraid, people. Be very afraid.
MySpace, the countrys most trafficked website, and MTV, the leading global youth brand, today announced details of their first Presidential Candidate Dialogue featuring former Senator John Edwards (http://www.myspace.com/johnedwards). The inaugural event will take place on Thursday, September 27, at 12:00 pm ET on the University of New Hampshire campus an affiliate in mtvUs network of more than 750 colleges and universities and will be moderated by MTV News Correspondents SuChin Pak and Gideon Yago as well as WashingtonPost.com political reporter, Chris Cillizza. Industry-leading pollsters John McLaughlin and Geoffrey Garin will oversee the real-time polling data and audience questions being submitted via MySpaceIM and MTV.com. The kick-off event also marks the first Flektor application integration since its acquisition by Fox Interactive Media in May 2007.
Were providing Americas youth with unprecedented access to the top presidential candidates by empowering them to ask live questions and respond with real time polling tools, said co-founder and CEO of MySpace, Chris DeWolfe. The integration of Flektor will add a new dimension of rapid response and at-home engagement we cant wait to see it all happen live and unfiltered.
For the past 15 years, MTV and Choose or Lose has been the place where young people have gone to ask questions of the candidates and let their voices be heard, said Christina Norman, President of MTV. Through this exciting partnership with MySpace, we are taking the concept of engagement to a new level, allowing every single young person to participate in the Dialogues.
Yep, thats right. Tomorrow at noon EST, MySpace users will be able to see former Senator John Edwards grapple with questions they themselves submitted both prior to the event and live via instant messaging. I personally cannot wait to find out who Edwards plans on putting in his Top 8 should he get elected (I say Bill and Hillary yes, John Kerry no) and whether he would have sex with the candidate above him. Of course, there are also the pressing matters of how many illegal immigrants hell have on his friends list and whether hed like to see my grindcore/emo band, Tears Rusting My Skate Trucks, at Bubbas Crab House in Ypsilanti next Tuesday. Im stoked, dude, heres our flyer.
The candidates, however, may not be so stoked about the, uh
interesting interactive voting system these Dialogues will employ.
For the first time, users at home or anywhere online are empowered to immediately respond to candidate discourse with a new online polling widget powered by Flektor. Online viewers on MySpace.com or MTV.com will be able to access a simple ratings meter to indicate their approval or disapproval of a candidates responses as they watch the Dialogue live with instant results displayed on the screen. A popular vote function will allow viewers to compare their opinions against those of the entire viewing community. Poll results will be available online live during each event and archived for future viewing.
Options for approval ratings include:
I agree
Well argued
Sincere/ authentic
All of the above
Options for disapproval ratings include:
I disagree
Full of bull
Scripted/ canned
All of the above
Should be an adventure. Id like to add the Full of bull rating as a friend!
Subrosa feels old.
True Stories from the Social Network Special Olympics
I don't know if it's something in the pixels or if the constant flow of friend requests are finally getting to some people but in the last week I've heard some of the most insane stories about bullshit people have pulled on social networking sites. And by bullshit I mostly mean people doing things online and then being surprised when other people find out about them. I'm actually kind of impressed by the level of ignorance going on, and thought you might be too. Here are a few situations I've heard about this week, all of which are entirely true. Names, of course, have been changed to protect the guilty.
Jack is dating Jill. Seriously. Like, a serious "committed" relationship. Jill isn't online as much as Jack but decides to check out his MySpace profile one day. This profile is full to the brim with photos of and notes too / from other girls that Jack is apparently hooking up with on a regular basis. Jill is obviously upset by this and confronts Jack. Jack denies it. Jill pulls up his profile right in front of him. His reaction - "oh, um... yeah." Jack is no longer dating Jill.
Thomas knows about Susan, but doesn't like her. He makes several posts on his MySpace blog about what a whore he thinks she is. Susan does not really know Thomas so doesn't read these posts. Thomas meets Susan in person and has a problem, she's totally cute. Thomas takes tons of photos of him and her together at a party and posts the photos to his Facebook profile, seemingly to prove that he has actually talked to cute girls before. Thomas tags Susan in the photos. She finds them and follows the links back to his MySpace page and sees everything he's written about her. Thomas is shocked, SHOCKED when he asks Susan out and she says No.
I don't even know what to say about this except... really? Someone actually thinks this is at all entertaining?
Tina and Laura have been hooking up pretty regularly. Laura invites Tina to do something one evening and Tina declines saying she can't because her job has her working extra hours and she can't do anything except that for the next week or two. That evening rolls around and Laura starts getting tweets from Tina about a great party she's at. A little shocked, Laura sends Tina a text message asking what she's up to. Tina responds saying she's still at work and will talk to Laura later, then sends one to twitter saying "just got txt from old girlfriend while hanging out with new one... awkward!"
Jeff meets Katrina at a party. Katrina tells Jeff about her ex-boyfriend Louis. Louis is her ex-boyfriend because Katrina caught him getting busy with his coworker Janet. And by getting busy I mean having sex. Jeff is sympathetic and understanding. Katrina and Jeff leave the party together and one thing leads to another. And by one thing leads to another I mean they have sex. The next day Katrina finds Jeff on MySpace and leaves him a cute, flirty comment. Then clicks on his photos, where she finds several photos of him with Louis, and some with Louis and Janet. At their office. Where they all work together.
Mike and Ted are friends with Steven and Francis. Steven and Francis get in some stupid tiff with Ted and then Mike and Ted decide to no longer be friends with them. Mike is especially vocal about not liking Steven and Francis anymore because of what happened with them and Ted. Ted is psyched that Mike has his back. Months later Mike makes up with Steven and Francis and starts hanging out with them again but tells all his friends not to let Ted know. Mikes friends feel uncomfortable but keep their mouths shut. Steven however isn't so quite, and posts photos of them all hanging out on his Flickr account. Mike doesn't know this, but all his friends do, and are just waiting for that bomb to blow up.
So what I'm wondering, is when did people all the sudden forget that when they put things online, other people can see them. And if you have a secret, putting it online isn't the best way to keep it a secret. Did everyone simultaneously suffer head injuries? Are other people seeing this kind of thing or have I just found a patch of online idiots this week?
With Friends Like These, Who Needs Friends?
Recently I was talking with a new-to-social-networks friend of mine about what the hell we're doing with all these online communities. I pointed out that while a benefit of these systems is collecting your friends in one place, it's still fairly difficult to differentiate between loose and strong ties. That is, what's the difference between someone you've known for 10 years vs. someone you just met at a party? In your head you know that the long time friend is a different kind of a connection, but the SNS haven't been able to figure that out yet. There are probably things you'd tell one friend that you aren't sure yet about telling the person you just met, but when your only option is friend or not friend, how do you control what info goes to what people?
Facebook has an option of friending someone while only allowing them to see your "limited profile" which is a step in the right direction, but honestly adding in one more level hardly solves the issue of classifying what is probably hundreds of different kinds of friends. In efforts to continue filing people into handy little categories there is now a "Top Friends" application that, similar to the "Top 8" on [ULR=http://myspace]MySpace, allows you to highlight people who are really your friends, or at least you really want people to think they are your friends. Not surprisingly these two steps actually cause more problems than they solve. In fact these actually take what are supposed to be comfortable social interactions and make them awkward and drama filled.
In the case of a limited profile, people know you've chosen this option the moment they click to your profile and only see half the info they can see on their other friends pages. In the case of a set of "Top" friends, more often than not there are people who think they should be in that list and will take it personally when they aren't included. Or worse, people you don't even know will ask you to put them in there and then you are forced to either do it, which negates the value of the list all together, or tell them "no" which puts you in an uncomfortable situation. Software and services designed to help facilitate social behavior should never create uncomfortable situations, but unfortunately it's all too common.
And this doesn't only apply to friends. Here on SuicideGirls we have the option of picking favorite girls. I'm fairly certain this feature was put in so members could highlight the sets and photos of the girls they really liked, but quickly it became a status issue with "favorite" spots on certain members pages becoming coveted achievements. Recently I actually deleted all of my favorites because I was sick of getting messages from girls asking to be added to my list. Not responding, or saying no totally sucked, but I didn't want to just add them to a list that was supposed to be something I hand picked so rather than keep stressing about I just killed that list all together.
While my take-my-ball-and-go-home solution works for some people, others are resorting to a different form of not playing. Xeni Jardin from BoingBoing responded to a question asked on twitter about these friends lists creating awkward situations by saying, "I recently changed all my 'top friends' on MySpace to non-human entities (blogs, tv shows, dead cultural icons) for that VERY reason." If there's no way to tell your real friends from your casual acquaintances, and very special lists of very special friends have to be deleted to stacked with things other than actual friends so as not to hurt any feelings -- doesn't that kind of defeat the point? Have you ever felt obligated to put someone in a list you really didn't think they belonged in? How did you deal with it?
Facebook Vs. MySpace: What's Class Got To Do With It?
(Photograph by Mack Reed)
At least twice a month someone asks me for a link to my page on MySpace -- I usually end up pointing them to a blog post I made about this time last year called, "MySpace can eat a bag of dick." The short version is that I got so frustrated with every single aspect of how MySpace works that I deleted my account, walked away, and never looked back. The interesting change is that at that point people were asking me for the link several times a week and it's been steadily decreasing since then. For the most part I'm not very vocal about my distaste for MySpace so I don't think that's why requests have slowed, instead I'm getting the same questions but now asking about my page on Facebook.
I'd been noticing more and more of my social circle moving over to Facebook but had just assumed it was the same kind of migration we'd seen a few years ago when people started moving off of Friendster and over to MySpace. This was just my assumption and I had little to back it up, so when danah boyd started talking about the same topic I was very interested. Turns out it's anything but the same kind of migration, and in fact is more of a division. A few months ago danah wrote a piece called, "Viewing American class divisions through Facebook and MySpace" where she noted that only certain kinds of people were leaving MySpace for Facebook but for some circles MySpace was still the premier SNS. After a bit of explanation about how "class" in America has less to do with how much money you make and more with who you surround yourself with, she points out where this split is happening:
The goodie two shoes, jocks, athletes, or other "good" kids are now going to Facebook. These kids tend to come from families who emphasize education and going to college. They are part of what we'd call hegemonic society. They are primarily white, but not exclusively. They are in honors classes, looking forward to the prom, and live in a world dictated by after school activities.
MySpace is still home for Latino/Hispanic teens, immigrant teens, "burnouts," "alternative kids," "art fags," punks, emos, goths, gangstas, queer kids, and other kids who didn't play into the dominant high school popularity paradigm. These are kids whose parents didn't go to college, who are expected to get a job when they finish high school. These are the teens who plan to go into the military immediately after schools. Teens who are really into music or in a band are also on MySpace. MySpace has most of the kids who are socially ostracized at school because they are geeks, freaks, or queers.
A very important note to make here is that danah's research focuses on high school kids only, as that's who she was speaking with directly before she came to these conclusions. It was interesting to see that among Facebook users, all of them knew about MySpace (and often had negative things to say about it), but frequently MySpace users hadn't ever heard of Facebook. As you might expect people misread her article, pulled bits out of context and jumped to conclusions prompting her to write a response a month later addressing many of the issues people brought up. The age issues was a big one, as was the use of race in her observations. In her follow up she clarified a bit more where all this info came from, stating:
When I talk about data, I'm not talking about my friends or what I hear from teenagers in Los Angeles (or San Francisco). I drive to disconnected communities and talk to teenagers from different schools about their lives. I hang out in public places where I watch teens. I hang out on MySpace and scan the micro-profiles that one can see on Facebook. I talk to parents, teachers, pastors, and community leaders from all over the nation. I talk to people from varied backgrounds, all to get at what's going on. The trick to ethnographic work like this is to understand the biases that are operating in the spheres you study. This is not survey work. This is about contextualizing what you learn, making sense of how an individual is or is not like her/his peers. This is not about random sampling, but sampling until you start to see patterns that are predictable, until you flesh out the domain. While individual experiences are important, when I'm drawing patterns, I'm talking beyond the individual - I'm trying to paint a meta portrait.
One point from her original piece that really struck me was how this division was reflecting in the military. She found that the educated Officers were all on Facebook, while the rank and file troops were hanging out on MySpace. MySpace was recently banned while Facebook remains accessible - perhaps because of who each site is reaching. danah writes:
MySpace is the primary way that young soldiers communicate with their peers. When I first started tracking soldiers' MySpace profiles, I had to take a long deep breath. Many of them were extremely pro-war, pro-guns, anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, pro-killing, and xenophobic as hell. Over the last year, I've watched more and more profiles emerge from soldiers who aren't quite sure what they are doing in Iraq. I don't have the data to confirm whether or not a significant shift has occurred but it was one of those observations that just made me think. And then the ban happened. I can't help but wonder if part of the goal is to cut off communication between current soldiers and the group that the military hopes to recruit.
Bringing this back to my own observations, my peers use their SNS for more than just staying in touch with a select circle of friends. Lots of business is done through these sites and connecting with the right network of people can make all the difference when launching or hyping a new project. As key figures in these networks jump from one ship to the other there are huge circles of people following their lead, in the same way popular kids in high school circles determine (often without knowing it) which sites their peers will be using simply by which they choose to stay on themselves. I personally shifted to Facebook simply because it worked, where MySpace never seemed to.
Mac Stores Cock-Block MySpace; Teenage Mallrats Grieve
For Pete's sake, can't you kids stay off of the MySpace for ten minutes? Is that really too much to ask? If you want to talk to your friends at the mall so badly, why don't you just go to the mall with your friends? And does the world really need another pensive webcam shot of your floppy hair? But no, apparently you can't handle that kind of self-control, and now Mac Stores have to go all Mom on your ass and put you on time-out.
A statement from Apple Friday confirmed this. "Nearly 2 million people visit Apple stores every week," the statement read. "We want to provide everyone a chance to test-drive a Mac, so we are no longer offering access to MySpace in our stores." According to an Apple representative, the News Corp.-owned MySpace is the only site that has been blocked.
Yes, MySpace and only MySpace (thus far) has been banned from access at Apple Stores, as a way to deal with a problem that has apparently been going on for some time now. It seems that kids would come into the stores and basically just screw around all day.
"MySpace is a big issue for the Apple stores because people come in, Photobooth themselves (using Macs' built-in webcams), then stick their picture up on their MySpace account and loiter at machines for hours," the source said in an e-mail. "It is especially troublesome at the flagships and high-volume stores, and for a while there was no official word on how to deal with it."
Heavy MySpace use was simply getting in the way of business. And with the impending launch of the iPhone, perhaps the most hyped Apple product yet, store traffic could reach a fever pitch.
Personally, I find this mind-boggling. Hours! I'm assuming these are kids who either do not have computers at home, or whose parents are sick of MySpace and have blocked it there, but either way the end result is the same. Think of it like kids going into Hot Topic and taking pictures of themselves trying on new outfits for hours a day, not actually buying anything, but tying up space and merchandise for people who otherwise might have. If I worked there, I'd be pretty exasperated, too. Who needs it?
So yeah, I'm siding with Apple on this one. I mean really, there has to be something better to do out there than mull about Mac Stores and be obnoxious on the internet. That's what home is for. Now, get off my lawn!
_DictionaryGirl_ spent her last trip to the Genius Bar amusing herself with YouTube, but figures that, with a completely-fried hard drive, Apple owes her at least that much.
Plz Forward This Newswire to Fifty Friends
Just when you thought information couldn't possibly get more reliable, Rupert Murdoch has descended from the heavens like a giant albatross to lay this one on us all: MySpace is entering the world of Internet news. Superb.
MySpace is going into the news business with a service that will scour the Internet for news stories and let users vote on which ones receive the most exposure.
This approach blends elements of Google News and sites such as Digg and Netscape, which rely on readers to submit stories and determine their prominence. It also marks the sites ambitions to become a web portal like Yahoo!, providing its users with a front door to the Internet.
In and of itself, it isn't even that interesting or innovative; Google News did it first, and I can't imagine MySpace necessarily doing it better. It's basically just an external news feed, only with the added bonus of lively messageboard comments from 14-year-olds. What is interesting is the bit about users being able to vote on articles for more exposure. It's a curious phenomenon of internet headlines -- back in the solely print days, it was the editor's job to decide which stories got the bigger fonts and the spots closest to the front page, in effect deciding what qualifies as "news." On the Internet, however, every link has an equal shot. This is apparently an issue that has been weighing on Murdoch's mind for quite some time:
The central message was that the days of newspapers editing content into a one-size-fits-all package to be consumed without question by the reader were numbered.
Young people "don't want to rely on a God-like figure from above to tell them what's important," Mr Murdoch said.
"And to carry the religion analogy a bit further, they certainly don't want news presented as gospel.
"Instead, they want their news on demand, when it works for them. They want control over their media, instead of being controlled by it. They want to question, to probe, to offer a different angle."
Yeah, screw those field reporters and doctors of journalism telling me what's important, I demand more articles on My Chemical Romance! Seriously though, fascinating words from Mr. Murdoch. I'm fascinated with if and exactly how the whole voting mechanism, if it catches on, will shape the scope and nature of reporting in the future.
There's also that whole dubious conflict-of-interest thing.
Dan Strauss, who headed the group that developed MySpace News, said that publishers would be able to opt out of the service if they didnt want their stories to appear on it. He also said that media outlets owned by News Corp would not receive favourable treatment.
Oh, sure. Think any News Corp imprints will be opting out?
This whole story would have been a lot cooler if MySpace had been hiring savvy teenage hipster reporters to scour the street for beats and stories that might effect their target audience. But in this ever-expanding world of pure user-generated content, who has the time for that?
_DictionaryGirl_ would like to believe that SG Newswire's punchy spin and erudite vocabulary could beat MySpace's External News Service at arm wrestling any day of the week.
Advertising Your Party on MySpace? Bad Idea.
Seriously, if your parents are going out of town, you should try your best to keep that party youre having under wraps. Its best not to, say, tell everyone on the worlds most popular Website when its going to go off. That is, of course, unless you want over 200 total strangers to show up and totally destroy your parents' house.
Revellers caused £20,000 of damage to the £230,000 property after the invitation for the Easter Monday celebration was posted on the popular site as a "Skins Unofficial Party" - a reference to the controversial Channel 4 series which featured scenes where a teenage get-together got out of hand.
Partygoers allegedly urinated on the mother's wedding dress and children's clothes; stole cash and jewellery; ripped light fittings from the ceiling by swinging on them; stubbed out cigarettes on the carpet; vomited throughout the house and barricaded the back door to prevent neighbours from intervening.
Although police were called to the site, they left after the teenagers turned down the music. The date and time of the next party will be my next story.
Look Who's Lurking
If you want to land that dream job, be wary of what you post on the Internet. A survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges found that future employers are likely to peep social networking profiles as part of the hiring process.
With sites like MySpace and Facebook being popular amongst college students, it is almost inevitable that someone, your boss included, will log on to dig up some dirt on you.
NACE study found: "More than one in 10 employers (11.1 percent) responding to NACE's recent Job Outlook 2007 Fall Preview survey reported plans to review profiles on social networking when considering candidates for jobs." And the survey found more companies admitted they may look at social networking sites in the future. "Moreover, profile information may have at least some effect on an employer's hiring decisions: More than 60 percent of employers who review social networking sites said the information gleaned there has at least some influence on their hiring decisions."
Its great to know that the antics of crazy college kids can be discussed and shared but not when it comes back to haunt your professional career.
"It makes a great deal of sense for an employer to go ahead and get creative about the sources they are turning to to get that information," said Joe Spartz, of the Employers Association Inc.. "The Internet is an incredible vehicle by which employers are able to gather information in a way they weren't able to do as little as four to five years ago."
But Spartz recommends employers carefully consider if the information they are gaining is accurate and relevant to the skills the employee will need to do his or her job.
I dont know about you but lurking an employees blog is almost as bad as asking one's sexual preference during an interview. Its sneaky. Still, NACE's advice needs to be taken.
"You have to make sure that whatever is written about you on the Internet is something you want other people to see because it is out there forever."
MySpace for the Fashionistas
It seems every other day another MySpace clone is popping up, claiming to be the new MySpace killer. In fact, I'm pretty much sick of randoms offering invites to these useless, bound to fail, second class immitation websites. Where's the innovation these days? One of the first things I learned in design school was that while it's okay to use existing material for reference, it's never okay to copy. You take a good element and make it your own. And that is what IQONS is doing. Sure, the name is questionable in a trying too hard to be cool way, but the concept is great. Think MySpace Music, but for Fashion and Design.
With Vivienne Westwood and John Galliano on board, the site was launched at London Fashion Week this past Tuesday. The two often over the top, awe-inspiring designers are said to be online to help new designers and models along their path to success. When I visited the site, I expected to find a bunch of 5'1, overweight, 15 year emo girls, trying to break into the modeling biz with their similar hair, and overly lined eyes. I was actually impressed to see the wide range of members. A quick glance over a randomly generated collection of profile images reveals art directors, film makers, graphic designers, models, stylists, photographers and just about any other profession you can find in the fashion industry. Members can fill out a profile with the usual stat questions (emphasis on Fashion, of course), what they are looking for on the site, create a blog, and present a showcase of their work for others to browse. The profiles are also customizable in that one can add additional info boxes depending on their needs.
"The fashion world was sometimes a hostile and competitive environment so this is a tool to help young designers get involved," said IQONS other founder Rafael Jimenez, who previously worked at fashion house Comme des Garcons.
The site already has more than 4,500 members and around 600 new members each week.
Fashion has been taking to the tech world more recently. Style.com has podcasts featuring the runway shows of top designers at each showing. Giorgio Armani broadcast his haute couture showing over the internet last month. Even fashion bloggers are gaining more exposure, being admitted to runway shows as press.
Now I leave you with one of my favorite fashion moments. From Galliano's Fall/Winter 06/07 show, featuring the music of Joan Baez.
Battle to The Death!: Universal Music Group Sues Myspace
Universal Music Group, the largest music company in the world that owns labels such as Interscope (Gwen Stefani, Nine Inch Nails), Geffen (Weezer, The Cure), and Island Def Jam (The Killers, Lady Sovereign), has sued Myspace . The mega-corporation, owned by French media mammoth Vivendi, filed papers on late Friday, claiming Myspace allows users to post songs and videos on their site in violation of copyright law. UMG cites sixty alleged copyright infringements and is seeking $150,000 in damages per song and video. The suit comes after several months of negotiations between the two parties to resolve the matter. Myspace and its parent company, the Rupert Murdoch-owned News Corp., claim to be protected under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (DCMA), which was set-up to keep websites from being held responsible for content posted by its users. On an interesting note, when checking Myspace's main music page two of the three "featured artists" (Jay-Z, Brand New) are on Universal. Is Myspace sucking up? As the fight for Intellectual Property ensues, how long before they start coming after users again?
MySpace: Licensing Is the Future
In a follow up to an article to one posted earlier this week, in which we described MySpace.com's decision to employ GraceNote to help rid itself of its building copyright infringement woes, MySpace has found a way to capitalize on its weakness. They are turning their frown upside down.
MySpace.com has announced that they won't be limiting users' content. You will still be able to express yourself using artist videos and music on your site. How? Simple, through the magic of licensing fees. New Corp. will allow its members to decorate their profile as they see fit as long as they understand that it will cost a regular fee to do so.
It'll be like a commercial, but for yourself.
I gotta come up with a slogan, oh, and a logo.
Cause I said so.
MySpace Censorship
Brad Greenspan filed a lawsuit today in Federal District Court in Los Angeles thru his LiveUniverse company, accusing News Corps MySpace of ramping up the practice of censoring Myspace users from using or even mentioning the name on their profile pages of products or websites that News Corp deems to be competitive or a source of information adverse to News Corp. The lawsuit makes use of the law in the United States to protect companies and consumers from the attempts by Myspace to illegally create a monopoly and extend its dominance of the internet social networking market...
When Murdochs News Corp acquired MySpace in September 2005 there were concerns from MySpace members and others that News Corps business interests would undermine MySpaces commitment to being an open and independent community dedicated to putting the interests of its members first.
Since News Corps acquisition of MySpace, there have been various reports of the censoring of content, including the following examples:
Earlier this month, it was reported by Mashable.com that MySpace is blocking Sickam.com webcam codes.
In Januray 2006, MySpace disabled links to Rewver, a rival site. MySpace eventually reinstated Revver links following public complaints.
In 2005 and 2006, MySpace also reportedly turned off a MySpace blog forum where MySpace users were discussing the censorship issues.
In December 2005, MySpace disabled links to content hosted by YouTube. MySpace, under pressure from its users, eventually re-enabled the YouTube links.
On the Censorpspace.com website, a video link featuring Mike McGuire, a former MySpace investor expressing concerns about the News Corps acquisition of MySpace is posted in order to demonstrate how MySpace is censoring third party video links. Anyone with a MySpace personal profile who attempts to link this video to their MySpace profile will be able to see how MySpace is censoring such third party video content links.
Full disclosure: I am employed with LiveUniverse so I simply quoted the press release.
MySpace: A Copyright Friendly Place
MySpace.com has announced its decision to license a new technology in a campaign to prevent users from posting unauthorized copyrighted music on its site. The technology is provided by GraceNote and allows MySpace to review all music uploaded to the community pages and compare songs to the music in GraceNote's database of copyrighted material.
MySpace will be able to quickly and efficiently block users attempting to make uploads without proper rights. Community members who are blocked repeatedly will be deleted from the MySpace community, and then they'll be forced to make friends the old fashioned way, drinking and smoking.
MySpace, which is quickly becoming seen as an outpost for musicians and music fans, has ambitions to begin selling the songs from its catalogue of nearly 3 million unsigned bands. For this plan to become commercially successful, MySpace aims to expand this to include copyrighted songs from major labels - major labels owning 75% of all mainstream music. Obviously this is a complicated process, and it is hoping this partnership with GraceNote will stem the tide of copyright infringement lawsuits that are currently plaguing the company.
MySpace is quickly working on integrating the new technology in its software.
I own MySpace.
Jessica Simpson: Myspace Whore
Since her divorce earlier this year from Nick Lachey, Jessica Simpson really hurts in the dude department. According to reports, she trolled Myspace with a fake profile looking for hook-ups. To hide her true identity, Simpson pretended to be some random broad from Texas.
A source told Britain's More magazine: "After she split up with John Mayer, she set up a MySpace page to meet new people. She did it in a fake name but got really into it. She's totally addicted. Whenever she's at home, she's on her laptop."
Jessica is said to be seduced by the freedom and anonymity internet dating provides.
The source added: "Jessica loves the idea she can use the internet to look for a man who's interested in her personality. She pretends to be this shy Texan girl."
While Simpson pretended to be an average girl from Texas, Im pretty sure she hooked up with a fourteen-year-old, acne-covered, wanker pretending to be a successful stockbroker from Riverdale. Im not sure which side deserves the congratulations.
Jessica's best "cock in mouth" pose.
It Doesn't Pay to be Paris Hilton's Myspace Buddy
I guess if youre masochistic enough to want to win a special trip to see Paris Hilton, some extra spam in your e-mail wont hurt too much. Several people on Hiltons Myspace friends list were disappointed after they received messages from Hiltons account informing them they won all-expense-paid trips to visit the socialite. After clicking on the message, a series of screens prompted friends to Hurry! Only twenty prizes left. You would assume these people would have the smarts stop, but they didnt.
They were then forwarded to a series of pop-up messages and questionnaires asking them to buy products and requesting them to supply personal information.
If the friend refuses to supply the info, the screen freezes, says one angry source. If however, the information is supplied, a message appears, saying, Thank you for signing up for our offers, but all the prizes are gone. Your email is now on a spam list and you win nothing!
The survey takes forever to fill out! fumes one source. I sure hope Paris is treating her best-friend-again Nicole Richie better than her MySpace friends.
Hiltons reps said Paris wouldnt do something like this, and its likely someone hacked into her friends list. Her reps must know she isnt bright enough to pull off this ridiculous scheme herself.
Hilton chills with creepy new friend, Criss Angel.
Bands to Play for Sudanese Humanitarian Effort
MySpace has organized 20 simultaneous concerts to be performed in an effort to raise awareness and money for humanitarian relief in the Sudanese Darfur area. On October 21st, all over the country, bands will perform to promote the cause including TV on the Radio in Philadelphia, Alice in Chains in Winston-Salem, N.C., Ziggy Marley in Medford, Ore., Citizen Cope in Seattle, Gov't Mule in Spokane, Wash., and Insane Clown Posse in St. Petersburg, Fla. Shows will also be held in Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, Atlanta, DC, Reno, Baltimore, Charleston, Toronto and more.
Myspace's Chief Executive Chris DeWolfe made a statement concerning the campaign:
The crisis in Darfur is a global concern and as a global community we have a responsibility to take action. MySpace's reach gives us an extraordinary opportunity to spread the word and empower individuals to help address the horrors in Darfur.
Each of the bands involved has agreed to donate a portion of the proceeds to Oxfam's relief efforts in Sudan and neighboring Chad. The genocide that the Janjaweed, a militia group recruited from local Baggara tribes, is exacting on non Baggara tribes has reached catastrophic levels according to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan last week with casualties estimated at 400,000, and little relief in sight.
The MySpace promotion also includes Snakes On A Plane alum Samuel L. Jackson speaking on behalf of the cause and a call to action. The service announcement will appear at the shows, and during commercial spots on television.
New Friend Request
While what you are about to witness might be considered "music" by some, reality suggests the following is more geek than anything else.
Via Valleywag
Song by Gym Class Heroes' "New Friend Request."
MySpace Founder Speaks Out Against News Corp
Brad Greenspan, one of the initial founders of MySpace.com who was forced out of the company before the sale to News Corp, is now speaking out against News Corp's purchase of the site. Greenspan has released an unprecedented amount of information regarding the history of the site, and the potential News Corp. scandal.
The answer to how News Corp. was fortunate enough to buy one of the largest and most valuable Internet companies for pennies on the dollar is now clear, said Intermix's largest individual shareholder and Myspace founder Brad Greenspan. I expect as the authorities get their arms around what happened, that this transaction will be unwound and Myspace will be independent. An independent Myspace is significantly better for its users and shareholders.
For the first time the public can read what took place behind the scenes and how shareholders were blatantly misled into voting for a quick and unfair sale to News Corp., continued Greenspan. Deliberate steps were taken to withhold and manipulate information; money was improperly gained and laws were broken. It is my hope that regulatory bodies will begin their investigations quickly before evidence is destroyed.
For the full report see FreeMySpace.com.
