MADE

MySpace is a place for friends, right? Wrong! I know what you’re thinking…that I’m going to talk to you about how those thousands of people who you call your “friends” aren’t really your friends, but just strangers who want you to stroke their big, fat egos. But I’m not going to go off on some philosophical tangent like that because it’s not even important to the new world of music.

But I still do want to talk about MySpace friends because I want to drill into your head the point that there are many people in the new digitized world of music who are completely clueless about how to make it in the music biz today because they put their MySpace friends on a pedestal higher than Mt. Olympus.

There is something very, very wrong with believing the idea that nothing is more important to the career prospects of a music artist(no matter the genre) than the number of friends they have on their MySpace page. Let me be clear: There is nothing wrong with having billions of friends on your MySpace, but there is something very wrong with believing that just because they’re there, that something is going to happen. Nine times out of ten, nothing will happen unless you make something happen. It’s like that with anything.

The mentality that a lot of indie music artists people have is that if they have a lot of friends on MySpace, then the major labels will notice them and they just may land a record deal. True, the major labels may look at them and they may get a record deal, but they probably won’t. The major labels are in trouble. They’re going for broke. Everybody knows that. There’s no money. And everybody knows that if you are one of the “lucky” few who does manage to get that almighty deal, you’re in for a bargain worse than a deal with the devil.

Here’s how people should think about friends on MySpace. Your friends on MySpace are, from a marketing standpoint, only as valuable as you make them. The new music world is a world for ambitious entrepreneurs. Gone are the starving artists.“Non Entrepreneurs Need Not Apply” should be the new slogan for the music industry.

People shouldn’t think about using their MySpace community to create “buzz” to then show the major labels in hopes of getting a record deal. People should think of their friends on MySpace as walking cash registers instead. Every one of your friends on MySpace has the potential to buy something from you if you make enough of an effort to treat them as customers and sell them something. You have to see them as customers and fans.

A great example of this is Tila Tequila. You know who she is. The last time I checked she had 2,974,254 on her MySpace. I personally think her music sucks and that she’s little more than a glorified pinup. But she’s done a brilliant job of converting her friends on MySpace into customers.

Despite signing with a major label, she decided to independently released her first single “I Love U” through iTunes on February 27, 2007, justifying the independent release through her desire to become famous by herself. “I Love U” made its way to the top of the ITunes charts within 24 hours. On March 6, 2007 Tila’s video was the #1 most downloaded on Apple’s iTunes. Tila also set up her own website and turned herself into a brand. On her website you will find all kinds of Tila products that people are willing to buy because they know her. Her MySpace friends were “buzz” only insofar as they could be turned into paying customers.

Forget the major labels. The music industry today is entrepreneurship on steroids. An artist who isn’t willing to take the initiative and convert their fans into customers isn’t going to make it. Just ask Tila.

By: Twitter Buttons