In my opinion, MySpace has seen its usefulness to bands change and degrade over time. It used to be a good promotional tool but has changed to just be a good place to store some basic band data. MySpace has thousands upon thousands of profiles of emerging bands and the recent announcement about MySpace Music looked like they were angling to capitalize on that fact. Recently, MySpace announced a revamp to oft-mocked MySpace Music wherein they would feature emerging bands and pay more attention to artists not topping the charts. For a moment, I had hope. Then I looked deeper and saw that MySpace is once again ignoring the obvious.

The biggest change has the site featuring five artists every three months on it’s newly-created Introducing page. In their own words Introducing “is a program dedicated to artists on the rise. Every few months…we will be presenting you tomorrow’s stars. Today.” MySpace is channeling some of its promotional muscle into helping out rising stars and tapping the potential of their band profiles…right?

Here’s the first problem. Go to MySpace Music and find the Introducing page. Go ahead, I’ll wait… Hint: At the time of this writing there is no link from MySpace Music to the new page. None.

The second problem is larger and multi-faceted. As I mentioned, MySpace has pages for almost every single band that exists. No other site has the sheer number of band profiles that MySpace has (note I say this without research but do you know a band that doesn’t have a MySpace page?). This is a huge opportunity to feature more than five bands every three months.  Instead of capitalizing on the mind-blowingly huge amounts of indie artists they have on the site, they choose five every three months. You’re more likely to win the lottery than have your band featured.

It’s even less likely that your band will be featured (even if you are a nationally touring, well-received indie band) once we take a look at the first crop of featured artists, of which there are four not five. Sherwood signed to MySpace Records in 2006. Kid Sister is signed to Downtown Records, a joint venture of Universal and Atlantic. Serena Ryder is signed to Isadora Records, a Universal label. We Are The Kings are signed to S-Curve Records, which has distribution and licensing ties to EMI. So yeah, get that recording contract first then maybe you can be featured on Introducing.

From the Billboard article: “According to MySpace sources, there’s no pre-defined way to determine which artists are chosen for the program. MySpace generally looks for artists that are already using MySpace in a very hands-on way, while labels can offer suggestions or insight into their emerging act priorities.” Bullshit. I predict that the major labels will control Introducing and that an indie band using MySpace “in a very hands-on way” has no shot.

So the aim of Introducing is not to tap into the wealth of band profiles but to further the careers of artists signed to heavily-connected labels. In all honesty, that’s fine. A little outside of how Introducing was branded, but fine nonetheless. It’s not easy to get signed to a label, not to mention one with strong ties to the majors.

However, it’s another example of MySpace’s increasing divide between what most musicians/music fans use the site for versus what MySpace thinks we use it for. It boggles the mind that they have so many band profiles and yet they make no attempt to capitalize on it. They are essentially sitting idle while allowing Facebook or some other site to steal the one thing that MySpace still has going for it.

Fun note: I never want to type “MySpace” that many times in one sitting ever again.

Just last week, I got on my high horse and declared that MySpace was no longer the best way to promote your band online. It may be fine for bands that are already established, but I believe it has limited use for indie bands. MySpace may make me eat my words (especially because I’ve made fun of MySpace Music since it’s initial launch). They are doing a little MySpace Music reboot to try to tap into their wealth of emerging artists. I say it’s about time, but will keep my specific thoughts about the new program to myself for now.

Read the article below from Billboard and see what you think. I’ll post my initial thoughts soon.

Original article from Billboard -

By Antony Bruno, Denver

It’s no secret that MySpace can be a great place for artists to launch their careers. But MySpace Music is now formalizing the process, flexing its promotional muscles with a new program designed to champion five artists every three months called “Introducing.”

Acts selected to participate will benefit from a variety of promotional assistance both online and offline. This includes premiering new music on the MySpace Music homepage, featuring playlists created by participating artists, video premiers, behind-the-scene footage and interviews, MySpace Secret Shows, and a special Introducing page on MySpace dedicated to whatever artists are being highlighted at the time.

Warner Brother Records act Lights was the test-subject for the new initiative, and has now expanded to include artists Sherwood, We the Kings, Kid Sister and Serena Ryder. All will enjoy a 12-week promotional push across the MySpace platform, with the specific activities varying by artist based on release dates, touring schedule and etc.

While MySpace has engaged in these types of promotional activities for bands in the past, this is the first time it’s compiled them into a formal program with a set timeline and planned outreach to labels. According to Warner Brothers senior VP of new media Jeremy Welt, who oversaw the Lights initiative, the program is a welcome addition.

“We all hear about these stories about artists breaking on MySpace, and it’s always something that just happens,” he says. “How great would it be if we worked together to make that happen with a coordinated plan?”

According to both Welt and MySpace sources, there’s no pre-defined way to determine which artists are chosen for the program. MySpace generally looks for artists that are already using MySpace in a very hands-on way, while labels can offer suggestions or insight into their emerging act priorities.

Welt says that although MySpace has lost momentum in recent years to rival Facebook, the social networking site remains one of the best music promotional platforms on the Web, and expects the Introducing program to cement that reputation even further.

“MySpace plays so much music to so many people that it starts to feel like a gigantic national radio station,” he says. “When they put something on the homepage, we see the impact on the iTunes charts throughout the day… The power to move enough people to see the iTunes charts affected, that doesn’t happen with too many sites out there.”