http://www.divshare.com/folder/528524-baa

Sara – pants in the on position! I know, it’s been forever, my bad…

Univ – it’s not a dead horse until this sort of thing is common sense!

hm, though. Nothing terribly original about the article. One of those “list” cookiecutter jawns. For those who don’t feel like clicking the link, I’ll paraphrase. He lists 5 “don’t”s. I’ve put my thoughts on those “don’t”s below:

1. Don’t use myspace as your sole website.
2. Don’t use myspace as your email.
3. Don’t have a background image.
4. Don’t embed lots of media.
5. Don’t write lots of text.

My thoughts:
1. If you can help it, that’s a given. If you for some reason can’t make another site, make sure that your contact info (this includes phone number of the member of your group that is least likely to be stoned out of his/her mind when someone calls trying to book you).

2. This is a given. If you are using anything other than gmail, you are making a mistake – if for no reason other than the fact that you can track conversations across months (or years). See Ep 65 – The Blueprint episode for a mention on this.

3. If you can do it without it
a) taking a huge load time
b) getting in the way of reading your text, then
go ahead.

4. As they say on those fill-in-the-bubble joints, strongly disagree. If I go to somebody’s myspace page, it’s not because I want to read comments left by groupies or random self promoters, it’s because I want to hear/see the artist. Put your best (read: just a couple) youtube/vimeo/whatever videos up, sure. As long as you can keep things clean, no issue.

5. This is a fine line. If you have interesting things to say, go for it. If it’s a lame one-sheet/press thing, no. Actually, putting those things up can actually achieve the opposite of the desired effect.

My thoughts, anyway.

http://newmusicstrategies.com/2006/11/04/five-mistakes-youre-probably-making-with-your-myspace-page/

Universal – oddly enough, there are some people out there that are both musically and technically inclined – I think I read somewhere that Jay Electronica is pretty decent with Photoshop (I, on the other hand, can’t even draw a straight line in that program – no exaggeration. Fireworks all the way) – but I guess if you’re gonna be a photographer in the 08 you kinda have to be. There’s a pretty respected rapper out here in Japan named Zeebra who apparently learned Applescript well enough to tweak iTunes to his will inside of a few months or so.

And even for me – there are times when I realize that while I could spend time programming something out, it’s best to not reinvent that wheel and spend my time on something more important.

Point taken!

“I could possibly listen to some sample music, and then after I figured out that I could only get a 75mb zipfile,”

Actually, there is a player all the way at the bottom in each page for releases. In hindsight… I guess I’m going to move that up to the top…

stop by in a few because i wanna get another joint on your mixshow… it did wonders for me.

Universal – haven’t heard much from you all in a minute! Switched up the label name?

To the point though, in principle, I agree. That’s why I broke off of a very easy and probably lucrative (especially given how early I got into it) podcast deal to run my own site. I don’t like anyone else telling me how to run things.

To clarify, though, I didn’t mean to throw out any site you already have. It’s just that the vast majority of groups/artists are musical artists – not designers or programmers – and even if they are, I’d much rather them spend time making quality music than making a pretty website.

It’s not really about relying soley on one outside entity (though even if you have a host, you are still relying on someone to not screw up your files – always backup!), but about using tools available to you. Right now, if I was managing or in a group, I would easily use Bandcamp to promote my music (sending links to radio stations/bloggers/etc).

I’ll use your site as an example – it’s dope that you all have a blog/site, but as a new listener or radio programmer, it’s not optimal. After opening your site, it took me around 30-45 seconds to figure out where I could possibly listen to some sample music, and then after I figured out that I could only get a 75mb zipfile, I got bored and closed the window (see Q2 in the main post). It takes too long to get to what people want – which is the music. Once you’ve got them hooked, then they’ll read your blog and maybe spend some money.

The young generation has no patience, and you gotta take that into consideration. In your case, I would recommend that you keep the site, but throw some music up on Bandcamp – it can’t hurt anything.

I should hit these dudes up for some money, this is starting to sound like an ad…

These people depending solely on Myspace.. what will they do if Myspace dies…?