Is myspace moments from burial?

Please feel free to weigh in on a friendly “discussion” one of my favorite colleagues and I are having re facebook vs. myspace in re the local music scene …

james: myspace is out. over. fini. facebook is it. myspace will be gone faster than newspapers. facebook is a Colorado wildfire in the age of global warming. myspace is not last week. it is last year. five years ago. on and on.

jeanie: myspace is still hot for musicians and related folks (record companies, recording studios, music-focused publications, clubs -- on and on). they treat it like a cost-effective webpage at the very minimum. you cannot be in band and not be on myspace, even if you have a high-end website of your own. facebook is for people. myspace is for bands and the YA crowd -- and mums tracking the YA crowd!)

(Note that james freely admits that it is his wife signing in to facebook everyday, not james.)

james: if a musician is not on facebook but is on myspace, then it is like the musician is at the dog track and ALL the fans are over at NASCAR. they will not survive without fans. they are missing out on where everybody is.

jeanie: you cannot purchase tracks on facebook -- do they even have playlists? and, bottom line, any fan anywhere can look at a band and listen to them. with facebook, you have to be able to sign in. You get all the cream without any effort on myspace. you can see almost everything. at least the very important stuff such as where they are playing. listen to their music. their videos, etc.

Here are just some of the comments I have gathered – these from folks who work in PR / community relations:

Kristin: Well I have to say that when John, my 15-year old who LOVED MySpace a few months ago, told me he doesn’t go on there much anymore because none of his friends are there – well, that was a big sign that MySpace is on the way out. He seems to be on the edge of what’s going on with this stuff, and now he’s on Facebook all the time (and reconnecting with his old pals from L.A.!) So I love you Jeanie, but I think I’m siding with James on this one.

Katie: I somewhat agree with both James and Jeanie. MySpace won’t be around much longer – but it in the meantime, only bands are using it right now. I do think FaceBook and Twitter are going to be the very hot trend over the next two years at least. But then again, check out everything else that’s out there – it’s overwhelming! http://www.flickr.com/photos/briansolis/2735401175/ If I had to take sides, I’m leaning with James.

Elizabeth: Social websites? I don’t use ‘em! But does LinkedIn count?

Aspen: I think there’s a widget to put music tracks on FaceBook?? But anyway, I think we’re watching the slow death of MySpace – their flame is flickering.

Say the word and James is KING at my day job for the rest of the year!