Thursday, January 29, 2009

The Importance of Social Networking

As music fans, an obvious way we relate to one another is through social networking websites. In fact, its arguable that the webhost Blogger, which you are visiting right now to view my blog, is a social platform, where we can converse and exchange ideas and opinions.

A study was recently released that stated that Facebook.com now has twice the number of user accounts than MySpace does. In fact, in November 2008, more than 1 person in every 5 people who accessed the Internet that month visited Faceboook.com at least once. That's a serious, serious fact.

MySpace has always been notated since its birth for being a prime platform to get the word out about new and breaking artists. Several musicians like Kate Nash, etc., have gained fame from developing their profile.

However, it is YouTube that has become a new means of getting a word out, as users can visibly see you perform and sing live (so long as it's all real, but that's the gamble you take with anything). Groups are forming through YouTube (Dream), unsigned artists are attempting to get broader exposure (Candy Coated Chaos), major artists connect better with fans (Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus) and new artists are found and celebrated by respected musicians (Esmee Denters has been signed with Justin Timberlake's new label venture, and Julia Nunez recently opened up for Ben Folds on tour).

There is also a statement to be made that YouTube is helping bring back music videos, which since MTV and Vh1 have all but pretty much abandoned playing the promotional clips in favor of showing asinine reality programming, is definitely a welcomed change. However, it may be the negative publicity by NBC and Warner Music in pulling off their content that helps fuel user interest.

As I stated before, Facebook is attempting to launch a music service that may have them competing with MySpace and iTunes. Last.FM and Imeem allow you to listen to music for free as well as meet other music fans, and discover new artists.

What is your social networking profile of choice? Do you use it to find/listen to music?

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