Case Study - MySpace
The social networking website, MySpace, has become a global phenomenon, giving unknown musicians the ability to quickly set up a web presence and upload and sell songs to a potential audience of millions.
Having famously helped launch the careers of Arctic Monkeys and Lily Allen, music photographers have also started getting in on the act, either to simply join in the fun or to attempt to further their careers by connecting with the bands and artists they work with free from record company interference. And best of all, getting set up doesn't cost a penny.
"These days it's so much easier because you've got sites like MySpace," believes Karen McBride, who, like Steve Gullick and Kevin Cummins, has a dedicated MySpace page for her imagery. "If a band is proud of your photos and starts to put them out there, somebody else will see them and like them.
"I ended up doing a fantastic shoot with Dot Allison (formerly of pioneering 90s dance band One Dove) through MySpace," she relates. "She got in touch directly. Bands use it all the time now, so for networking alone it's superb. But you have to build up your friend contacts on there - just because you've got a MySpace page it's not going to happen for you."
For the uninitiated, it works like this: somebody invites you to be their friend via a mail message, you click on OK. "Then," says Karen "you go through their friends and think ‘I like that band, I'll add them to my MySpace page.' That way your range of contacts builds. For music photographers it's becoming essential - a lot of people are really creative with their MySpace pages."
Steve Gullick on the other hand came at MySpace from a slightly different perspective. "I already had MySpace pages for the bands I play in, and I thought I may as well have one for my photography," he shrugs. "My marketing skills are pathetic - I will upload some more pictures to it at some point - but I think basically I'm just an egomaniac."
To join the social networking site, direct your browser towards www.myspace.com .
