The discussion about the ever changing landscape of music trudges along. Some people (namely the big record labels) bitch and moan. "Declining record sales are the fault of downloaders, blah blah blah." My feeling is you accept the changes and work them to your favor or you get lost in the dust. Maybe more musicians doing things in a DIY way can afford their rent in exchange for the execs only having 10 bedroom houses instead of 15 bedroom houses. wah. What I'm interested in are the innovators that say, yes, it's changing, but it can work for us. Fighting the web is like trying to stop an ocean wave with your hands. Not gonna happen. Obviously as a blogger, I have my share of opinions about all of it, but I stand up behind sites like MySpace, YouTube, vMix, mTraks, Veoh, Virb and the like in all that they do for levelling the playing field and opening up the musical landscape. There's room for everyone.
It is known that there is a MySpace record label, and now, MySpace is presenting their first national tour. Say Anything and hellogoodbye are headlining with various guests in each city of the tour. The tour will make it's way through San Diego on November 17, and I'll be there if Tom is there. Tickets go onsale Friday, Aug 31 at 1 pm. Click the link below for tickets.
Pre-Sale Tickets Available Exclusively for MySpace Members Beginning Aug. 31
(update: tickets are selling now;$20 each)
I wasn't gonna post the whole press release, but I kinda like all the corporate mumbo jumbo.
MySpace, America's most trafficked website, today announced the official launch of the ‘MySpace Music Tour,’ a new series of MySpace produced and branded concert events. The first MySpace Music Tour, presented by Extreme Style by VO5, will kick off Oct. 16 in Seattle, WA, and will be co-headlined by artists Hellogoodbye and Say Anything. Other bands will include MySpace Records artist, Polysics, and to-be-announced special guests. The Tour will include more than 30 shows across the United States throughout October and November 2007.
"MySpace has served as a platform for countless bands and musicians around the world to showcase and promote their music to millions of fans online," said Tom Anderson, president and co-founder of MySpace. "With the new MySpace Music Tour concert series we are able to bring people face-to-face with the bands and artists they’ve come to know and love on the site. The kick-off tour has an amazing line-up of bands and I know the MySpace community will be psyched to see them live.”
Presented by Extreme Style by VO5, the MySpace Music Tour will have a dedicated online community on MySpace, where fans can find all tour information and purchase tickets. The profile will also feature exclusive content, including band blogs from the road, photo galleries and exclusive offers and sweepstakes for MySpace users to win a chance to hang out backstage with the bands.
“Extreme Style by VO5 is all about individuality and self-expression, making MySpace a great partner and the MySpace Music Tour an ideal venue,” explained Rob Keen, Marketing Director for VO5. “Music and style are the main vehicles for self-expression, and we’re helping provide both with amazing music and styling stations for men and women to achieve their personal looks.”
Co-headliners Hellogoodbye and Say Anything have made their names as popular MySpace Music artists. Hellogoodbye's first full-length album, Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs! was released in 2006 featuring the platinum single, "Here in your arms." Alternative rock band Say Anything will release its second album In Defense of the Genre, in October 2007. Japan’s Polysics are touring in support of their first album for MySpace Records, Polysics or Die: VISTA!!!, which comes out Oct. 9. Widely known for their hyper-kinetic live shows, Polysics perform new wave punk in Japanese, English and even their own space-language.
"Hellogoodbye are big fans of MySpace, and I don't want to brag or anything, but I am a pretty good blogger,” said Forrest Kline, lead singer and guitarist of Hellogoodbye. “MySpace has allowed me to develop my blogging skills and I am thrilled to be on the first ever MySpace tour and further refine those skills by posting post-show blogs."
“We are stoked as beans to be on the first MySpace tour with Hellogoodbye!! It’s going to rock!” said Max Bemis of Say Anything.
The MySpace Music Tour will kick off Oct. 16 in Seattle, WA and will wrap in Las Vegas Thanksgiving weekend. Pre-sale tickets will be available for purchase exclusively on MySpace for MySpace members only beginning Aug. 31. Ticket sales for the general public will begin on Sept. 6. Full details about the first ever MySpace Music Tour, including dates and tour stops, will be available on MySpace. The next concert tour in the ‘MySpace Music Tour’ series will take place in Spring 2008, with additional details to be announced in the coming months.
To date, MySpace has more than eight million bands using the site. MySpace music has allowed bands to share music and videos, announce tour dates and communicate with fans and others in the MySpace community, seamlessly integrating the web into shared online and offline experiences. MySpace Music has been the launch pad for exclusive, high-profile album releases from artists such as Gnarls Barkley, Panic! At the Disco, Lily Allen, Fall Out Boy, Timbaland, Modest Mouse, The Used, and many more. Exclusive album releases recently featured on MySpace include T-Pain (#1 Debut on Billboard), The Used (#5 Debut on Billboard), Timbaland (#2 Debut on Billboard), Modest Mouse (#1 Debut on Billboard), and The Shins (#2 Debut on Billboard).
2 comments:
I love ya, but are you really making the claim that Myspace has democratized the music world to make room for the little guy? For a tour that's sponsored by a shampoo company? And has marketing push from the largest social networking site on the web? I think I must be missing something.
I'm not saying outright democratization, but 2000 is probably an underestimation of how many bands I've become exposed to in the last couple years that I might not have otherwise ever heard of. The access to bands, their music, their profiles allows people like me to seek something out, decide for myself if I like it or not, and then gets me to go to a band's show, buy their music, their merch, etc. I don't really give a shit if some corporate sponsor steps in on tours- look at the SoCo thing- if they help to offset the costs of tickets or increase the revenue for the band. In addition, I know bands (and I'm sure you do, too) that have been able to gain a following and build tours and even find places to stay along the way almost entirely on the strength of their myspace profiles. It isn't perfect, it's not a democracy, but more bands have a chance than they would if there was no MySpace and just the big 4 labels. That's all I was saying.
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