tips for surviving myspace
This morning, I've finally figured out something to cure one of my recent frustrations - accepting friend requests on MySpace.
Key frustrations:
-- each friend request is an imposition to check out someone else's page.
-- each band page has four songs, or about 15 minutes of music.
-- I get 10-15 of these requests a day.
-- if I skip a day, I get 20-30 requests.
-- if I go away for the weekend, you do the math.
but perhaps the biggest frustrations are:
-- I'd *really* like to listen to everything, and read about all of these wonderful people.
-- I know that once I hit "approve", chances are that I'll never hear this music again.
But life is short, and since there's much to do outside MySpace, here are some tips to surviving the onslaught. Feel free to add your own in the comments.
technical points:
-- I'm on a Mac, and find that the Camino browser works fastest for me.
-- set your browser to open links into tabs. have those links "load in background", if possible.
non-technical:
-- I always do something else - write emails, blog, eat breakfast, wash dishes (quietly), read, do crunches - while surfing MySpace. I have enough capacity to listen to music like this -- if it grabs me, I'll quit what i'm doing and listen attentively.
-- I try to give each band enough time to show me a verse and a chorus. If I like them, I'll stay for more. If I'm really in love, I'll listen to another song.
-- I only comment on bands I like a lot. Relentless commenting used to bring in a lot of add requests from bands and fans whose music I didn't really enjoy. By keeping it somewhat small, my friendbase and my musical tastebuds grow organically.
and finally:
I wrote to Beyonce via MySpace, but she didn't respond. However, my appreciation for her work has not waned a bit. I've written to others, and sometimes they listen, sometimes not. Regardless, I've learned that I'd much rather hear new music from people I admire rather than hear about their day, or how much they enjoyed my counterpoint.
It goes both ways -- my MySpace friends are also overwhelmed with music to listen to. They're grateful for the four tracks I've put up, but I'm only one of the 10,000 bands they're "friends" with... I'd be excited to compare their MySpace wealth with their CD collections, where I'll be lucky if I find even 10 CDs from those MySpace bands.
The real trick on MySpace is how to convert these "friends" into proactive fans, the kind that help set up shows and man merch tables, and bring their friends. These people are jewels, pillars, and our best hope.
See you out there!