Move your MySpace fans to Facebook or your email list

After yesterday's post about MySpace, several people pointed out to me that many artists have a dormant or, at best, unmotivated fanbase languishing on MySpace.

Shouldn't they be making efforts to reinvigorate that relationship and get those folks to interact with them somewhere where they are more active - perhaps their own site or Facebook, or get them on to their fan mailing list?

Of course, they should, and a bunch of people think the same thing and have been writing about it.

With the hook-up between ReverbNation and MySpace you get a whole bunch of their fan tools that you can now use directly inside MySpace. Whilst this means that it is now easier to communicate with your fans within MySpace, it also means that, for the first time ever, you can contact them all in one go and ask them to join you somewhere else!

Not sure they thought that through!

If you have a ReverbNation account, you can log-in and message them all to join your ReverbNation mailing list. You can then always move them from there to your mailing list system of choice - Aweber if you know what's good for you!

This post tells you how - http://blog.reverbnation.com/2010/12/23/4-easy-steps-to-increase-your-mailing-list-with-myspace-messaging/

GarageSpin has a list of methods that will help you move your fans somehwere new.

And, of course you can check out ReverbNation's original post about using their tools within MySpace.

And, you may as well watch their video about it too:

Whatever you decide to do about maintaining or ditching MySpace, make a concerted effort to let your fans there know that you can offer them more somewhere else before abandoning them as digital dust.

You're stuck with MySpace, for a while yet

This is a great article on DigitalMusicNews that I only spotted thanks to @Buzzsonic.

I'd urge you to read it but don't miss the comments as there's a lively debate about the article's conclusion going on all the way down the page.

Even with the rise of artist service companies, few are positioned to replicate what is perhaps MySpace's biggest asset: its role as the musician's calling card. The myspace.com/bandname URL is a common convention most bands adhere to and more consumers recognize. Chances are good that the piano man at your neighborhood bar has a MySpace page, as do the world's most successful acts. While combining a number of APIs and widgets on an artist's homepage can achieve the same functionality of MySpace, few have the potential to achieve the URL ubiquity that MySpace has.

Read the piece and the comments here.

Although I wish it wasn't so - I agree that all sensible artists should retain a MySpace presence, even now. It needn't be much more than an up to date information page that points back to your own site, unless your act knows that it's fans would still want MySpace to be the primary point of contact (true for less and less artists today). 

I think it will become less important in the next year as it's SEO usefulness dies away, but the new ReverbNation tools mean that you can at least try to maintain a relationship with the fans that want to visit you there.

NME's 10 digital music predicitions for 2011

What it says on the tin.

Check them out here - 10 Digital Music Predictions For 2011.

I'm not convinced by half of them!

Streaming is the answer to music distribution. That we haven't yet found a way to make ad-supported services like Spotify pay isn't the end of it. Nor do I agree that MySpace is over. It's over as a hub for your musical online presence, but it is still a very highly trafficed (sorry - I know that's not a word!) place to hang out your musical schill - so you'd be daft not to.

Some of the points I do agree with - like the one on fan funding!

Well, I don't ever really expect the NME to know what it's on about, do you?

MySpace launch fan management tools

Maybe it's not all over for MySpace?

Just when everyone is saying that it's over for the original music focussed Social Network, out they come with some serious tools to make the life of the average band a lot easier.

And, remember, I still advocate and active MySpace presence as a key part of your online music promotion, because a vasty nyumber of people still turn to MySpace as their first stop when looking up a band to hear their music.

In my mind, it is still a place you have to have a presence.

However, the former “place for friends” has recently announced an integration with marketing and promotion platform ReverbNation that will give artists a handy collection of tools that they can use to track analytics (both on MySpace and on other social media sites) and organize and contact their fans. The new contact tools are an extension of Reverb’s Fan Relationship Management application, FanReach.

Mashable have the scoop - read it here.

MySpace is still an essential web presence for every artist....here's why

Everybody gets off on putting MySpace down and telling artists that they can now safely not bother with a profile there.

We, along with most music industry thinkers, don't agree. It comes down to the fact that MySpace music marketing reached something of a dead end with every band spamming every other band to add followers. That isn't the point though.

You have to have a presence on MySpace as it is the de facto place that people - fans and industry alike - look when they want to check out an artist. A lot of ways that people used to use it are now pointless, but an active, regularly updated, presence will still do you favours.

This article talks about how MySpace still dominates in music search results - look at that post here.

And this one from Hypebot elaborates on my thoughts by listing 6 reasons not to give up on the old girl yet - Read Hypebot's list of 6 here.

MySpace unveils long awaitied redesign

So, MySpace finally launches their (final?) attempt to stay relevant.

What does this mean for musicians?

I have long held that, despite it's dwindling power, MySpace is an absolutely essential part of how you should promote music online.

It remains a destination where fans and all types of industry folk will naturally head to check you out - they understand the format and know what to expect and can make a very fast subliminal judgement.

Although the new artist pages are already out in Beta, there is more to come.

Read this article in Music Week for more info.

Watch their own video on MySpace.

ArtistHQ sets up a site to help musicians - right on MySpace!

I never would have thought of doing this with the flexibility of the new MySpace profile.

We know a fair bit about myspace music marketing ourselves, and are working on updates to our book about MySpace for musicians.

But, it makes total sense to have a site giving tips to musicians right there on MySpace where they all are.

Check it out here

MySpace is still a necessity for musicians

Although a lot of people like to tell us that MySpace is dead, it still has a place for all musicians.

More than that, in fact. It is essential that you have a plan for at least a basic form of MySpace music marketing.

This article gives a thorough reason for why that is so.

Currently no service truly has the same democratic approach for new and unsigned acts that MySpace does. The site has always used its plethora of content well, with weekly Best of MySpace podcasts to help users find new and exciting music. Adding a simpler and more modern user experience to this could boost its popularity.

Read the comments as well as the article for a well thought out argument. Bottom line - people still go to MySpace as a reference for new music. You have to have a presence.

Read the article and comments here.