With MTV and VH1 wholly dedicating themselves to lame celebreality shows and terrestrial radio stations slipping into a classic rock coma, MySpace has become one of the last frontiers for musicians to get heard. Used the right way, the wildly popular social-networking site is the ideal place to sell music, connect with fans, and meet 
like-minded touring partners. The best part is it’s free and easy to use, so even those with zero advertising budgets and computing skills can easily reach out to its more than 120,000,000 active users. Just ask acts like My Chemical Romance, Colbie Caillat, and the Arctic Monkeys, who have all used MySpace as a launching pad into the charts. Here are some simple rules for maximizing page hits.
Keep It Simple
Try to resist the array of free templates with blinding graphics and go with a simple page that is both readable and easy to load and navigate. There’s nothing worse than coming across a page sagging under the weight of logos, YouTube clips, and third-party gadgets that take forever to load, sometimes even crashing browsers. Subtlety counts. Chances are if someone has willfully navigated to your page, they are already interested and you don’t need to beat them over the head with gimmicks and frills. Just present the music and relevant information in an easily digestible way.
Take It Easy with the Send Button
You don’t want to drive away potential fans by filling their in-boxes and bulletin boards with a flurry of messages announcing every single show date and bodily function. If possible, try to wrap it all up in a tidy comprehensive weekly bulletin and then repost the information on your blog for people to find at their leisure. You don’t want to be marked out as a spammer.
Stay On Topic
Don’t post the personality quiz you took at 2 a.m. to your music page. At the same time, don’t fill your Top Friends slots with old high school acquaintances and exes. Often, people go straight to your friends list to get an impression of what you’re all about, so this is the ideal place to showcase influences, support acts, and relevant industry contacts. It’s common knowledge that up-and-coming British songwriter Kate Nash won most of her early fans after appearing in Lily Allen’s Top Eight. Keep it all about the music and make sure that every bit of information you put out there reflects back on it.
Keep It Fresh
Make sure your page is updated with a constant flow of new information, music, and photographs. Every single tour date should be up and easy to find. MySpace is littered with blogs that were last updated in 2006. If you’re going to start one, make sure you contribute to it on a regular basis. If you’re active, your page should be as well. Find new ways to keep people coming back after they’ve already memorized your influences and bio. Take a cue from major label acts like Nine Inch Nails and Weezer, who used MySpace to stream new albums. If you constantly give people something unexpected they’ll keep coming back for more.
Interact
Make it easy for people to contact you. Respond to emails. Know the crowd. Get a feel for the site and its codes of conduct before jumping into the fray. Find out what elements work for other acts and pick out the ones that will suit you best. When fans and other bands leave complimentary comments for you, not only should you acknowledge them with a quick note but attempt to reciprocate, especially when you’re just starting out. As great it is to see your friend counter go up, make sure you’re adding legitimate fans and not one of thousands of MySpace spambots that can annoy the people that really care about you. Try to set aside a good chunk of time everyday to do these things, along with some general profile maintenance. Remember that MySpace is your primary link with the world outside and it’s time well spent.