The myspace debate...

[aladdinsain]

Not sure whether to put this here, in 'Sub-culture' or in 'Politics'.

I guess here will do for now.
What do people think about the whole 'myspace is corporate evil and we shouldn't be using it' debate?

There just isn't anything out there that gets the traffic that myspace does.
Thoughts?

[highlandpunk]

necessary evil in my opinion. no other site comes close to the amount of bands on there and fans. if there was another answer i would go for it but myspazz is the way at the moment.

[gogsythreat]

Don't you think all the corporate tagging that goes is only applicable if you react to the ads. I never pay any attention.

The other good thing is that if you use Firefox Browser with the no script extention it stops all the ads from showing. Just raw myspace. . Quite a pleasant experience that way. hehe ;D

[david]

The money they make off advertising is based on site hits, not clicks on the ads.

[aladdinsain]

Aye- the argument pretty much goes that by having a myspace account, people hit your page. The more traffic myspace gets, the more they can charge for advertising. This fills Murdoch's coffers.
There was a guy on another forum asking if the anarcho-punk scene should be boycotting bands who use myspace.
That means that both Oi Polloi and Conflict would be boycotted (!?!)

Alternatives I have found are
Punkrockers.com
Mohawk Radio.com

though neither see anything like the traffic that myspace does.

[infktd]

agreed its a necessary evil in my opinion... as much as murdoch wil be sitting back reaping the rewards, myspace is a valuable network, allowing previously local punk scenes to expand to like minded people globaly, helping mass organisations of protests or allowing widespread distribution of "dissident" info etc etc its just too valuable a tool i reckon.

Though I would be happier if it were non profit!

[david]

I don't think it is necessary. Its hard to avoid just now but all you need is a migration from to render it useless. I don't see why it'd be hard to do that with all the alternatives about. virb.com is a good one.

[scott]

I don't think there is anything wrong with using the site, it has done wonders for local music scenes.
Of course there were good ones before myspace because popular but it has made it so much easier for bands and fans alike.
Regardless of people making money off someone going on your page, why does the money they make matter?
Surely you don't expect to get it for yourself? I thought music was supposed to be played for fun and as a hobby.
Although I realize this is a reason you could argue the case you should boycott if for this reason but I do not intend on doing so.

[david]

It's the people making the money that are the problem.

[scott]

Jan 5, 2010 8:32:47 GMT david said:

It's the people making the money that are the problem.

Let them make their money I say, as long as you still have fun making it I don't think it really matter.
The internet is full of scams and this is just another one but the upsides definitely out way the downsides.

[aladdinsain]

Yeah- as I understand it, it's not about bands wanting the advertising money- the money goes to Rupert Murdoch, who now owns myspace.
It's about a scene that is trying to circumvent the global corporation ran music industry inadvertently fuelling Murdoch's global corporation.

[infktd]

True in principle it could be viewed as "anti-anarcho" but in a lot of ways myspace itself is bringing down the global corporation run music industry... what with so many bands now just doing it DIY via myspace/facebook/bandcamp etc and reachin thousands of people worldwide theres a viable way of organizing tours and shifting all of yer CDs or seven inches without having to go through any label at all!

As long as myspace doesnt charge any fee (which i suspect would cause its downfall) i think its a valuable tool we should be using to subvert the major labels and change the way music is being spread, listened to and bought. Rupert Murdoch will get his one day... (I hope!!)

[david]

Jan 5, 2010 14:00:53 GMT scott said:

Jan 5, 2010 8:32:47 GMT david said:

It's the people making the money that are the problem.

Let them make their money I say, as long as you still have fun making it I don't think it really matter.
The internet is full of scams and this is just another one but the upsides definitely out way the downsides.

You know its Murdoch who makes money off myspace ads not bands or anyone else, right?

[spat]

Wait a sec... Myspace WAS making money, in 2005, 2006 and 2007, following Murdoch's $510bn purchase of it. But since 2008 the rapid drop in users has resulted in a 40% Myspace staff cut back as well as the failure to secure advertising targets agreed in a $900m deal between Myspace and Google in 2006 - causing Myspace to lose $100m in 2009 because of this.
And don't worry it looks like he's going to lose even more, as advertising revenues continue to dwindle in 2010.
The numbers of unique users is continuing to fall daily, and the last initiative launched by Myspace ('Myspace Music') was a total economic failure.
So, regardless of whether we think Murdoch is making profits (which he isn't) we all agree he is a force of evil in this world BUT with Myspace now being regarded as the 'trailer park of the internet' with regards to profitmaking in online media, I think the last thing he would want on his sinking ship is millions of punks and activists reaping the benefits of an easy to use free global networking site.
Who wins? We do.
So fuck it

[aladdinsain]

I do agree that for small bands on a DIY scene, the spreading of counter-culture tends to outweigh the money we will add to Murdochs coffers- I don't see the page hits we get as contributing in any way to the perceived value of myspace.
But I have to say that myspace wont be making any loss- company 'losses' aren't losses in real terms- when companies talk about loss, it merely means they haven't made as much profit as they predicted. Generally a company will be well shot of something long before it makes an actual loss.
The best thing that happened to myspace was facefuck and titter- they seemed to draw a lot of users away, except the ones who were using myspace for an actual purpose.
It also meant that the kind of mentalists who spam up the bulletin board with 'what I had for breakfast this morning' have mainly fucked off to spew their drivel on blogs and the latest social networking site.
The ability to pretty much make your profile look the way you want is one of myspace's major assets above all those other networks- effectively allowing bands to have a free website. There just isn't anything to compare with it.
Punkrockers is the nearest thing I've found to it, but the traffic there just isn't enough to have it as a sole profile and expect anyone to find you.

So we're all 'trailer-park trash', then?
I love it- how fitting!