Though everyone seems to be abandoning mySpace for the Facebook’s of the world, the mySpace beast can still be a very powerful tool for artists and musicians if used correctly. I can’t say that I’ve gotten around to taking my own advice (yet) BUT I’ve done the research and outlined a few tips to help you get started on a power ActiveMQ profile.
YOUR PROFILE PICTURE:
This flagship portion of your profile needs to be vibrant and irresistible. In all of this you need to appeal to the lowest common denominator and realize that monkeys like bright shiny things. You will get more random traffic and click-throughs if you avoid black and white imagery and stick with juicy photography.
Also, as a musician, it is best that your picture separates you from the personal profiles, comedians, etc and immediately illustrates that you are a band. First impressions are extremely important and since this is your prime real estate and split-second to display this, you should show an instrument, a microphone or anything in the musical realm.
YOUR AUDIO PLAYER:
When being “scouted” by labels or random listeners, the number of plays within your player is very important. Simply put, the more plays you show, the bigger you look. I know this sounds cheap and superficial but again, the lowest common denominator cares about things like this. Perception is king. If you look like you’re popular, browsers are more likely to stop and listen to you because they want to be “in the know” and see what all the fuss is about.
A successful profile is charting 25 to 30 plays per day (that is a solid pace). Plays4days.com is a company that you can literally PAY to make your numbers climb– they profit by hitting your page and promising x amount of plays per day for x amount of time. Though these aren’t necessarily qualified listeners, it adds to the smoke and mirrors; increasing your number of plays to make it look like you are bigger than you are.
SHOW SCHEDULE:
The trick here is to look like the hardest working artist in show business. Labels want to see that you’re staying busy and not struggling to book shows on your own- they want to add value not create your value. On the flip side, if random browsers see a slue of dates on your calendar, the perception is that you’re a popular act and therefore worth checking out. I personally can’t stand the fact that this is what it has come to BUT on mySpace, this is a reality.
That said, even if you don’t have a show scheduled for a particular date, put it on the schedule as “TBA” or “Private Event.” This gives the perception that you’re busy (even if you don’t ACTUALLY have a gig booked).
YOUR mySpace BLOG:
Believe it or not, it is very important to stay active on your blog because of the ramifications OUTSIDE of mySpace. Google search spiders will crawl the content within your mySpace blog; therefore, the more you post, the more active you appear, AS WELL AS, the more content that is available for Google searches to latch onto. By continually posting, your page views will relatively increase because your fans now know that you are an active blogger and they’ll want to report back daily to “see what’s new” in your world.
Simply put, the more you blog, the more content you create for the search engines and the greater your residual traffic from your mySpace loyals.
ABOUT SECTION:
People don’t like to read so the less text the better. It is unfortunate but mySpace browsers want instant gratification so limit your description to a couple lines max and use the rest of the space for interactive elements (bright shiny things). One great idea is to record a video About You rather than write text About You. If you’re not into video, put together a slide show.
Lastly, ReverbNation offers a “join my mailing list” icon that will actually compile a mailing list for you– this is the best place to put that (toward the top of the screen).
FRIENDS:
As I mentioned earlier, the rule of thumb on mySpace is always to appear bigger than you are. Record labels want to see that you have 10,000+ friends because that translates to a solid following and/or support base that they don’t have to spend money to develop. Some tips for building your friend base:
BAND MEMBERS SECTION:
No one cares. No one wants to read about them. Your best bet is to post a pic of you (or whoever is the flagship face of the band) and then devote your efforts to writing a blog post about each member individually… go all out and give them the respect they deserve! These posts will add to your overall content pool and make your site more robust and search engine friendly. Think of it as a fishing net… the more content you have on various topics– the more random traffic you’ll get.
INFLUENCES SECTION:
Again, no one cares to read this. Compile a slideshow of your influences using their prettiest vibrant pictures. The fact is that people would rather SEE your influences than READ about them. Once again, also do a blog post about each of your influences independently to add to your content pool. Who knows– if someone Googles “Metallica” for example (and you happen to have a blog post about them), you might pop up in the Google search results and generate that traffic that you wouldn’t have had otherwise.
SOUNDS LIKE SECTION:
From what I understand, this is the ONLY section on a mySpace sidebar that is crawled by search engines. Pick 5 to 10 names and list them– no frills– no pics necessary. This is your chance to draft off of their search inquiries and inevitable traffic!
POSTING BULLETINS:
The general rule of thumb to appear active and constantly increase your page views is to post 2 to 3 bulletins per week and 1 per show. Each bulletin should have some sort of link back to your page (in an attempt to double dip). The more bulletins you post, the more page views you’ll get, the more page views you get, the bigger you look.
POSTING PICTURES IN YOUR GALLERY:
People can tell a home photo vs. a professional photo. Again, in an effort to appear bigger than you are, photo galleries should be quality OVER quantity. If a label sees a bunch of home pics, they will loose interest because you clearly don’t take things too seriously. If they see a series of quality professional pictures, they will at least see a purpose behind your efforts.
As a poor man, I suggest you invest in a professional photo shoot and try to make it appear like multiple photo shoots within one. Change outfits. Use different settings. Have instruments in some and some without. This will allow you to have a bunch of top-notch pics that look like they’ve come from multiple sources. When done, be sure to post them to your mySpace as separate albums to maximize the differences between them.
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