Rob Rice

“Indeed in this new era of laptop composers and media-savvy multitaskers,a numbing amount of music is being cranked out, much of it on computer-assisted platforms that make the act of composing seductively effortless. These young composers are impatient and dream of enjoying the same success and same luster as their favorite indie rock idol. They forgot that developing a real voice and finding one’s muse takes time and effort and a truckload of misfires and embarrassments before the true and mature original emerges. But for those of the younger generation who refuse to be taken in by the thirst for quick recognition, the playing fireld is remarkably open and fertile for exploration.”

My apologies for the long quote, but this section of the chapter was really interesting to me.

I have a myspace account that I don’t really log on to very much anymore, one of the main reasons being that I get more band friend requests than actual people wanting to become my friend (and 99.9% of the bands that request my friendship are absolutely awful). While sending out mass friend requests might have been a good way to gain exposure many years ago, it’s no longer viable in today’s world where the web is flooded with “bands”. I feel like more and more bands are doing this because of the fact that it seemed like a lot of bands were blowing-up on myspace by simply having a page with music on it that was easily accessible to anyone in the world, but what they might not have taken into consideration is that those bands are most likely very talented or very produced, and word of mouth spreads a lot faster (and more effectively) than those friends requests they keep sending out. But everyone wants their fifteen minutes of fame…

Just because your music is easily accessible online doesn’t mean people are accessing it, and just because they accept your friend request doesn’t mean they give a damn about your music (they may not ever even give it a listen). You have to work hard in the real world to get your music out there. Especially now, since Myspace is wealthy with tons of other not-so-good bands doing the exact same thing.

P.S. I don’t mean to sound so negative towards the crappy-sounding bands that flood my inbox with friend requests - it’s great that they are even creating music in the first place and putting it out there for all the world to hear and critique (and hopefully continue to create music and improve their skills, and one day be worth listening to), but they should know that there are better (less annoying) ways to be heard, and if they truly are worth listening to, people will talk.