Myspace is dead, now what? (looking for bands)

[AudioGeekZine]

Alright, so I created my studio website, then I set up my Myspace page to find bands.

When that was done I tried to search for bands in my area, from those results there was only a few bands that had actually logged in since 2007!!
It's a fucking ghost town.
Where did all the bands go?

Facebook? Can't search by location.
Bandcamp? Can't search at all?
Bebo? Even worse than Myspace
Last.fm? If you do find a band you can't contact them directly.
Soundclick? looks like a possibility, but you can't see when a page was updated.
ReverbNation? Best results so far.
My Craigslist ads keep getting deleted
As far as I know, the bars in this area don't play original music, it's all cover bands.

Let's say you built a studio and you want bands to come. Let's say you don't know anyone in this city. Where would you find them?

 

[Chris_P_Critter]

Do you have any guitar center type shops near by, or other stores that sell musical equipment, or maybe a rehearsal studio? This may be old school but, drop off a bunch of business cards at the cash register, or see if they have a billboard and post up an ad - I always look at that stuff.

Not sure about your budget, but what about an actual ad campaign - local papers / magazines maybe? Do you have any publications that follow the local music scene - that would be a good place to advertise. These are some of the publications we have around here like that, just as an example of what I am talking about.

http://www.theaquarian.com/
http://www.theweekender.com/
http://www.steppinoutmagazine.com/

I wish you the best of luck man!

 

[drew_drummer]

Put an advert in the local paper; worth a shot.

Go to gigs; flyer the joint before you leave.

Branch out and look for clients outside your city.

 

[iamandy]

when did Myspace die?

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

Go to gigs and hand out business cards, and your right myspace got dead as fuck!

 

[DaveBlack]

Same dilemma brotha, I made a similar thread a few weeks ago. I def feel your pain. Especially since the place I work out of is hurting for money this month and the main guy asked me to get some bands in there and I've failed miserably. All of my friends bands are broke, so I'm trying everything I can to drum up some business.

 

[Dalinkwent48@aim.com]

Purevolume.com.....i havent checked it in a while so it might be a lost cause too but thats a full music site too with forums and shit u might be able to find some work in there

 

[neverpurify]

I think this if more of a case of bands dying not myspace

 

[NickL]

Myspace is actually still in the top 10 most traffic'ed sites. Porn doesnt show up until the 30s. Think about that for a minute.

 

[Charles J]

Myspace is actually still in the top 10 most traffic'ed sites. Porn doesnt show up until the 30s. Think about that for a minute.

LOL. God damn.

I agree, I think MySpace is still the best place to find bands as most EVERY band has a MySpace and most bands ONLY have a MySpace as their primary website.

As far as networking goes, I think Facebook has won over that crowd (at least in the 18-30 something range). MySpace is still cool for the kiddies, I guess. =D

 

[::XeS::]

Exactly. It doesn't seem that myspace is dead....I found all my clients on myspace

 

[Charles J]

The problem lies more in the fact that in at least 95% of bands, at least ONE member is kinda sorta half-way into recording and has the $100 worth of gear it takes to record a demo (or the band knows someone that has $100 worth of gear and will do it for free).

The problem here is, if the demo gets at least decent exposure and the kiddies like it, the band is MUCH more likely to go for a more 'name' engineer to do the real stuff OR stick w/the same member who, after seeing how many people liked his 'demos', now maybe has $500 worth of gear and try to get it mixed by someone with more of a name and sound behind them.

Just, IMO.

In this industry, in these times, you've really got to make a name for yourself above all and get a lucky break and work with the right artist(s) so the buzz spreads.

Without the buzz, we're all kind of swimming up the river bro. Sad to say...

 

[AEL89]

yeh its so frustrating trying to drum up business through myspace, it is literally, as you've said, dead. I'm looking to get flyers/business cards/posters printed... maybe try that too.

 

[if6was9]

Gigs is the key dude. You say theres only cover gigs but if there is bands there's gigs somewhere for them to play.
Go to the gigs and get talking to the bands, bring CD's with your stuff on them so they can hear your work.
I've gotten kinda lucky in that I met alot of local bands doing live sound, got friendly ith and recorded a few of them, people liked the recording so now I'm getting work from other bands as well as return business from those I've done already

 

[Trevoire520]

I still find that the bands around me are on myspace regularly. The problem is that no-one else is... As has been said Facebook seems to have won the social networking war...

Best bet is to get out to as many gigs as possible and talk to bands.

 

[if6was9]

Yeah Mysapce is still as active as ever with bands- To be honest there hasn't been proper people on it in a couple of years. I don't mind it- it still works great for organising gigs, making band contacts and hosting recordings where bands can hear them.

 

[kenfobert]

Get your website to the top of Google for specific keyword phrases that people might type in when looking for a studio.

This does take time and some effort to do. It is called Search Engine Optimization, or SEO for short.

Do some searching in google on "SEO tips" or "seo guide" to learn more about it and how to implement it.

Also try visiting www.warriorforum.com. This is an Internet Marketing forum that is very helpful.

 

[AudioGeekZine]

Either there are no bands in my area using Myspace, or the search function just doesn't work (big shock if that was the case LOL).

I'm going to add myself to as many local business directories as I can find.

http://www.google.com/local/add/analyticsSplashPage?gl=CA&hl=en-US
http://www.hotfrog.ca/AddYourBusiness.aspx
http://www.cylex.ca/
http://www.canadianbusinessdirectory.ca/
http://www.yellowpages.ca/
http://www.411.ca/
http://toronto.communitymusician.com/index.php

As well as any Recording Studio directories I can find.

http://www.dj411.ca/index.php?go=listings
http://recordingstudiodirectory.net/about_us.html (this one is US only)
http://www.taxi.com/members/links-studios-us.html (another US one)

And any online classifieds that might help
http://toronto.nowtoronto.com/musician/classifieds/Results?section=4380
http://toronto.kijiji.ca/

I'm also going to work on getting search results for my name to be relevant and positive and redirect to where I want.

 

[mjlaudio]

myspace is dead......try twitter and facebook.....so far there is no replacement for myspace but the best thing is having successful work, and word of mouth.

 

[AudioGeekZine]

myspace is dead......try twitter and facebook.....so far there is no replacement for myspace but the best thing is having successful work, and word of mouth.

Please explain how to search for local bands and musicians on twitter and facebook.

If I knew the band's name I could easily find a way to contact them. The problem I have is getting the names of bands in my area.