RSS Feed
Print Story
E-mail Story
My-fan-Space
Bands finding Internet’s MySpace a vital part of promoting shows, keeping in touch with fans
| Tuesday, Sep 25 2007 3:00 PM
Last Updated: Tuesday, Sep 25 2007 1:19 PM
If a record label signs From Ritual to Romance, the local rock band has MySpace to thank, at least in part.
Our readers recommend:
Loading Stories
Just 2 years old, the band has been approached by a few labels that first took notice of FRTR via its MySpace page, according to vocalist and keyboard player Ruben Val Verde Earlier this summer, the band was talking with an independent label from Sacramento but ultimately, decided against signing.
“We’ve got agents at other labels that are interested in us but they’re waiting to hear the second record,” Val Verde said Thursday. So that’s what the band is working on these days.
Val Verde said those labels, like others, first heard of FRTR on MySpace.
Many local musicians are using MySpace to promote their music, the function for which it was originally designed.
FattKatt and the VonZippers, American Standard, The Dusk Devils, Dirty Spanglish, The Filthies, Mento Buru, State of Insomnia — they, along with other local bands, all have MySpace profiles.
Remember when hometown bands tacked concert fliers to street signs to promote shows? Well, that’s largely been replaced by marketing on MySpace.
Bands use it to list tour dates, get their music heard, bolster their fan base, contact concert promoters and venues and make important connections in the music industry.
“It’s irreplaceable for bands,” said The Filthies’ drummer, Eric “Guppy” Bonilla.
The pop punk band used MySpace to book its April-May tour of Ireland. A few months before they left Bakersfield, the three-member band browsed MySpace searching for venues in Ireland; then they e-mailed the contacts.
“It actually worked out really well,” said Bonilla’s band mate, Kenny “Motor” Mount.
They also used MySpace to locate Irish music fans. The band e-mailed them, letting them know when they were going to be in their towns and encouraging them to check them out.
“Without MySpace, Ireland just would have sucked,” Mount said. “We met so many people on MySpace. When we got to Ireland, we had people waiting.”
From Ritual to Romance used the same approach earlier this summer when the band was preparing to play in Modesto for the first time. The guys searched MySpace for people who live in Modesto, then sent them e-mails, letting them know they were coming to town.
“We were able to have 50 kids come out and see us,” Val Verde said. “We do well in Fresno now because of that.”
Marc DeLeon put his local rock band, American Standard, on MySpace in 2005 when the band was preparing to tour the U.S. He wanted a way to communicate with fans when on the road.
“It’s fantastic,” he said, noting he still gets e-mails asking, “When are you guys coming back to Cleveland?”
Plus, he added that record labels do track bands on MySpace.
Two young up-and-coming singers, Sean Kingston from Jamaica and Colbie Caillat from Malibu, were discovered on MySpace. Caillat won legions of MySpace fans with “Bubbly” while Kingston scored a hit with his song, “Beautiful Girls.”
Both landed record deals.
Before them, there was MySpace ingenue Lily Allen.
You still have ‘to work it’
Matt Munoz, a seasoned Bakersfield musician whose fusion band, Mento Buru is on MySpace, pointed out that these successes don’t happen organically and that Allen, for instance, “has to work it like anyone else.”
In fact, Kingston has said he bombarded big-time record producer J.R. Rotem with e-mails before Rotem agreed to produce his debut CD, released July 31.
Munoz, who oversees Bakotopia, a local version of MySpace, said bands still have to hand out fliers even if they use online promotion. “Nothing will replace the human element,” he added.
Still, he said it would be “stupid” for a band not to create a MySpace page and take advantage of online social networking, “the current wave.”
Bob Baker is the St. Louis author of the 2006 book, “MySpace Music Marketing — How to Promote and Sell Your Music on the World’s Biggest Networking Web Site.” He agreed all hometown bands should be on MySpace.
“The key to promoting yourself as an indie artist is to get your music in front of people. It’s all about exposure,” he said. “MySpace is by far the biggest social networking site.”
And it’s free, at that.
“When you’re an independent band you don’t have a lot of money,” said Munoz, who put Mento Buru on MySpace in 2004.
Using MySpace
Dirty Spanglish is a 2-year-old band consisting of four boys from Bakersfield High School. Guitarist and vocalist Landen Belardes said they often promote their shows on campus, in person, but they like using MySpace because it allows them to network with “a lot more people than just, like, at school.”
He said they’ve booked shows through MySpace.
Besides promoting and booking shows, bands use MySpace to get their music heard. They can post up to four songs.
One of the songs on the Dirty Spanglish MySpace page is “Hots for Hermione.” The pop punk band’s song plays totaled just more than 12,000 as of early August.
“We know that people are listening and stuff,” Belardes said. “People comment and message all the time, ‘hey, you guys are cool.’”
The rockabilly band FattKatt and the VonZippers has had a MySpace profile since 2005. One of the songs it had posted earlier this month was “The Birth of Bakersfield,” about Buck Owens and Merle Haggard. The song will be on the band’s new CD, “That Bakerbilly Sound,” which should be released in November.
Vocalist and guitarist Lorenzo “FattKatt” Ybarra said the band’s MySpace profile gets e-mails from all over the world, including Brazil, where people message, “we love Buck Owens.”
Some local musicians, like the guys in Dirty Spanglish, personally respond to e-mails they receive on MySpace.
Belardes said “we don’t want want to look like we’re some famous people ignoring other people.”
Mount, from The Filthies, believes one-on-one communication with fans is important, saying that if someone likes three bands and one “talks to them all the time, that’s the band they’re going to go with.”
From Ritual to Romance used their MySpace page to bolster their chances in a music contest. Val Verde said they e-mailed people on MySpace asking them to vote for the band.
Some bands blog on their MySpace pages and post pictures, like from recording sessions and the road. DeLeon said when American Standard was touring the the States, fans submitted concert pictures.
Val Verde said blogging is a way for fans of From Ritual to Romance to know what the band is up to, like if it’s working on new music.
The band notes on its MySpace page that it’s working on a new record. Under Record Label, it reads, “Currently shopping … any takers?!?!”
Local bands aren’t the only ones using MySpace for promotion.
Local venues are, too.
Jon Cooley created a MySpace profile for Jerry’s Pizza, where he is the promoter, in 2005. “MySpace makes it so accessible to get things done. It’s the new media,” he said.
He uses it to list shows at Jerry’s and thinks it has brought more people to the Chester Avenue venue, which tends to draw a younger demographic.
Cooley also posts songs by bands coming to Jerry’s.
He said the risk with creating a MySpace profile is that people may choose to stay home and listen to music that’s available online for free, rather than paying to hear the music live.
Sandrini’s, another downtown restaurant with live music, is also on MySpace. Bar manager Neil Swank, who books the bands that play at Sandrini’s, lists upcoming shows on the Web site.
“It’s good for promotion,” he said.
Asked if he browses MySpace looking for acts, he said “not too often. Ninety percent of the bands contact me through MySpace.”
Cooley, though, said he does use MySpace to find new acts for Jerry’s.
MySpace has certainly become a meeting place for musicians, venues and others in the industry. Cooley said he booked a band earlier this summer, Sky Eats Airplane, that he had never heard of before he talked to the booking agent, who told him “they’re all over MySpace. They’re getting 4,000 plays a day.”
The Fort Worth, Texas band will be at Jerry’s at 7 p.m. Oct. 6.
It says so right on the band’s MySpace profile.
— Erin Waldner, Californian staff writer