There’s no doubt that MySpace is an important tool for independent artists. It allows you to easily share your photos, tour dates, videos, and music directly with your fans. So, if you don’t already have a MySpace page, it’s important that you create one. You can do so here:

http://www.myspace.com/music/artists

After you sign up, you need to create your profile. Keep the following ten tips in mind:

• Maintain a professional tone. Remember that anyone in THE WORLD can see your MySpace profile. If an A&R rep looks at a page, you want them to be impressed. That means a clean page free of typos and professional (or as professional as possible) looking photos and videos.
• Choose a simple background. Your information should stand out, not your background. Don’t choose a busy background that will take the attention away from you. Solid colors are the best choice.
• Your bio should have a professional tone and be typo-free. It should list the names of each band member, the instrument they play and tell the story of how you came together as a group.
• Photos should be crisp and clean (stay away from fuzzy or blurry photos) and should have captions with band member names. If you post live shots, the caption should tell where the photo was taken and note the date.
• Don’t forget to your add music to the music player! Again, keep in mind that you want your music to be the best representation of your band, so avoid posting rough cuts or live tracks with poor sound quality.
• Keep your fans up to date by posting your tour schedule. Keep the schedule as current as possible.
• Blog! Capture your fans’ attention by posting blogs that detail interesting “behind the scenes” stories of your life as a band or musician.
• Keep an eye on your wall. Avoid letting fans post videos that auto-play or photos and graphics that are inappropriate or don’t reflect the nature of your band.
• There’s no need to have 30 top friends. Keep it down to a top ten to avoid too much “friend clutter” on your page. Again, YOU should stand out on your page, not your friends.
• Cross promote your page through other social media channels. Connect your YouTube page with your MySpace page to post videos. Connect your Twitter feed to your MySpace page so your Tweets show up in both places. Do all you can to share information across multiple social media channels.

Check out fellow SongCast’er Sustain on MySpace:

http://www.myspace.com/sustainweb/

Know someone with a great MySpace page? Have an innovative idea about how to promote yourself using social media? Drop us a line in the comments section!

Next week: How to create a Twitter account and how independent artists can utilize it to promote their work.

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