Bandwagon
I haven’t really got into the whole MySpace thing. It reeks of “sellout” to me. Perhaps it’s techy/blogger snobbery but it’s a subculture that’s not quite niche enough for me to be into. On account of, you know, the world and her dog having a myspace page. I quite frankly don’t feel the need for one. MySpace is where I am, the square metre or so around my physical presence which, if invaded by uninviteds gets a punch on the nose. Unless you’re my wife, my son or particularly cute.
Should I be concerned, therefore, that I found myspaces for TheThe, Foetus, Alexander Hacke, Neubauten, Lydia Lunch, Skinny Puppy, Jarboe et al? Or should I just get with the program?
At the end of the day, MySpace is a marketing tool. It gives advertisers/marketers a list of people who have absolutely specified their interest in [Product X] whether that’s films, music, products, people, whatever.
As such, yes, it’s a sellout in many ways, but it’s also a way of directing news of (f’rexample) one’s latest album release *directly* to the people most likely to buy it. And/Or the people who will say “Well, I like music by E, G, J, and L, so it’s likely I’ll enjoy music by P, Q and S as well, as so many of the people who like the first lot also list the second lot”
As to whether you should ‘get with the program’, I’d say not. It’s OK to look at MySpace etc., but if you’ve an IQ of your own (as you obviously have) you can make those connections yourself, without having to get scumbag marketers to do it for you, and learn more about you into the bargain…
Comment by Lyle — February 15, 2007 @ 1:09 pm