pretty UGLY

It isn’t an animal, vegetable or object. It is however, a cultural phenomenon that plagues youthful western society.

Myspace is known for many things, namely spreading the gospel of ‘Emo’ , causing party ‘house rape’ in County Durham and propelling unknown bands into the limelight of success.

Myspace is also the latest acquisition of media baron, Rupert Murdoch.
Reputedly, the online community was bought for $580 million. Quite a considerable amount, considering it was started my two graduates from the University of California.

MySpace’ is successful because it harbours a sense of individualism for every owner of a myspace.It was a favorite teenage haunt, because, it was unpoliced, music based and a place to be oneself. However, this freedom of expression is precisely what will be taken away when MySpace China is launched, forums on religon and politics will be left out of the design. However, on the flip side, companies will be able to corner a potential market of over 1 billion people.


So what do bands make of such a change?

Upon questioning bands on such a topic, around 95% did not reply. One can only assume this was either because the band was too busy, not directly linked to their MySpace or genuinely shocked that their piece of ‘independent’ marketing was in fact part of a much larger corporate machine.

The ones that did were keen to point out that MySpace was only a promotional tool and not a reflection of their band. For example, unsigned Punk band ‘The Restarts’ admit that without MySpace, many of their overseas fans would not be reached;

‘To boycott myspace would be similar to boycotting the telephone company and never using your phone again...It would make life alot tougher.’………. ‘The Fact that Murdoch now owns it doesnt remove the practicality or convenience of it....it just puts a bad feeling in your gut!’

Suprisingly, a study released from comScore Media Metrix has found that more than half of MySpace users are now 35 or older. Suggesting that myspace is no longer a teen community. In fact only 11.9% of myspace members fall within the 12 – 17 age range. By leaving behind its teenage image, Myspace now captures an audience a higher spending market. And as Bill Gates predicted, it proves ‘the internet is becoming the town square of the global village of tomorrow.’

The “independent music” scene has undoubtedly benefited from myspace, and has changed the way a band reaches its audience. It has also spawned a lot of
‘crap bands’, as one music critic suggested. Controversially it could be argued that NME has been pulling the same stunt for years. Although the news of the Murdoch takeover is enough to putrefy the ears off of bands who claim to be truly independent, I am yet to see a mass exodus of independent or signed bands from MySpace. The reason being, that bands need MySpace to succeed. By ‘selling out’, they can sell more records. So perhaps Murdoch is onto a winner.

Myspace is trying to roll all the best bits of other websites into one by launching video platforms similar to YouTube. It cannot however, compete with Facebook, a much safer website that only allows users to view pictures and profiles once they have been added as a friend. The war is on, as Facebook has recently lashed back, and added new details similar to those on myspace or ebay, such as, ilike, marketplace and horoscope applications

Alexa Internet declares that MySpace is the fifth most popular English Website in the world. Whether Myspace is set for world domination is yet to be seen. Keeping up to date is the key. Anyway, as one person tells me apparently the ‘new Facebook. Is now Facebox’.

Perhaps we should boycott myspace, internet friends and a false sense of society and go and make some real life friends. In the words of Frank Zappa:

‘The computer can't tell you the emotional story. It can give you the exact mathematical design, but what's missing is the eyebrows.’