Audiologue

There were several articles in recent months about MySpace’s struggle for survival. Bought by News Corp, a Rupert Murdoch company in 2005, they struck a $300 million advertising deal with Google, and from then on, it seemed like they just let advertising trump everything (and even more so now as they scramble to regain users). Worse, they seemed to ignore the fact that, while individuals were migrating to other sites like Facebook (which now has twice as many users as MySpace), there were still musicians that found the website useful. Quite simply, MySpace offered a cheap and easy way to self-promote. And, while you’ll still find bands that have MySpace pages, you’ll find a lot more that no long will or no longer do. Logging in recently, I read a comment from British band Almost Free who’s comment in the news feed read: “Thank you MySpace for changing our profile. I wonder how many bands pay to be ‘recommended.'” Needless to say, stripping away in-depth searching capabilities, and then giving priority to bands that already receive widespread publicity pissed a lot of people off, leaving a vacuum for someone to come along and make a new central website for musicians to self-promote. Facebook could have, but didn’t (or may not consider it a priority), only recently having added media player functions. Band Camp may, but it doesn’t appear as though many local bands that need a free resource will use it.

For those that enjoy going to shows, the New York Times had an article yesterday about a website called Songkick, which is designed to help you keep track of shows (including music festivals) scheduled in your area on any given day, with the option to filter and receive notifications for specific performers. Best of all, it lists upcoming shows for even the smaller venues. However, I’m not sure what the point is of the “I’m Going” or “I May Be Going” buttons under the show listings (it would be great if it took you right to the appropriate ticketing site so you can be tickets, if possible), but I guess maybe that is a way for the venue or the artists to keep a rough count of attendees. In any event, it’s a useful site for the fervent show-goer.