by B. B. James

Created on: November 05, 2009   Last Updated: November 14, 2009

As the producer of a non-proft music festival, I can say from my experience that MySpace is a nice addition to our outreach efforts, but it falls far short of the hype about what it can do to promote music, musicians, and music venues. It's a complement to more traditional marketing and outreach, rather than a revolutionary form of publicity. My lessons probably have relevance for almost any type of nonprofit organization that is trying to spread its message, sponsor events, or raise funds.

First, a quick overview for the uninitiated. MySpace is a free web service that is especially useful for musicians because it allows for posting of music or music clips, blogging, and the entire "friending" system that has become so familiar through Facebook. It's seen as an easy way to introduce music to a wide range of potential fans. Bands can post photos, list upcoming tour dates, link with bands they like (or that sound like them), and so on. It's a way to build an online fan base and reach out to current and prospective fans. Those same principles can be used for any nonprofit that posts messages about its activities, photos from its events or of the people it helps, and pleas for donations.

So far, that sounds pretty good. Also, MySpace certainly delivers in terms of ease of use and functionality. Posting songs or photos or blogs are simple endeavors. The sound quality and speed of downloading of songs are fine, too.

So why does MySpace fall short of expectations? First, it's very time-consuming to post new information on the site. As many would-be bloggers have learned, it's hard to come up with things to say, and to say them well, on a consistent basis. It's not very exciting for a band to say, "Hey, we played a gig in Cleveland last night, and it was great. We're driving to Dayton tonight for another gig. And then it's Akron on Friday." Those messages will hardly draw a wide readership for very long.

Perhaps for a nonprofit organization with a big staff, it's easier to produce interesting messages every few days. But I've found that it's the rare person or organization that can really achieve a critical mass of interesting messages to a broad audience.

Second, MySpace doesn't generate the traffic that Facebook attracts. Our music festival has both Facebook and MySpace accounts, and the Facebook one is about 8 times as large (and it's been around for about a year less). MySpace visitors seem to enjoy listening to the free songs that are posted online, but it's a

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