Tour Kick-Off

MySpace onstage Web site kicks off its live tour here tonight

By Marian Liu
Seattle Times staff reporter


Find the band you like, buy its album and go to its show. All on one Web site.

This is what MySpace is moving toward. The community networking site has established itself as the place to find new music and connect to idols. But lately, it has expanded offline by founding a record label. And, tonight it kicks off its first music tour in Seattle with some of its most clicked-on bands.

"MySpace is able to promote us very well, because it is the mecca of all things social on the Internet," said Alex Kent, bassist of the co-headlining band Say Anything. The Los Angeles punk-pop band has more than 7 million views and more than 200,000 self-appointed "friends" on its MySpace site. The co-headliner, the Long Beach indie rock band hellogoodbye, has more than 18 million views and more than 600,000 friends.

"MySpace is definitely known for music, and we love the opportunity to bring our users the sort of online experience offline," said Kelley Electa, executive director of promotions and events at MySpace. And Seattle is a "cool market," to start the tour with, said Electa, because the city is so well plugged into music and technology.

Music-industry folks say that the MySpace Music Tour fits well with the current trend of lifestyle brands, like Vans shoes or Starbucks coffee. These companies aren't just marketing shoes and coffee, they're marketing lifestyles — which then require shoes and coffee.

"You can look at it as just another tour sponsor, trying to extend the brand that they represent," said Jonathan Cohen, senior editor of Billboard, a music magazine that charts album sales, airplay, downloads and box-office grosses.

Indeed, MySpace isn't looking to make a lot of money selling concert tickets. Electa said "It's a branding effort ... It's a great fan experience, inside and outside of MySpace."

There are more than 110 million monthly active users around the world. And three times as many people visit MySpace than any other social network.

Which makes sense why hair-products company VO5 picked this tour to help launch its new "Extreme Style" brand, aimed at a younger demographic. In addition to computer kiosks where fans can check their MySpace sites, VO5 will be setting up hair touch-up stations at the show.

"It's a great fit," said Electa.

You may not have heard about these bands, but these co-headliners are big among teens. hellogoodbye's last album "Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs!" rose to No. 1 on the Billboard Top Independent Albums. And, Say Anything's last album charted as well — " ... Is A Real Boy" peaked at No. 8 on Billboard Top Heatseakers.

So "the tour is not a big risk, said Cohen of Billboard. These bands "are very popular on MySpace and, yes, the MySpace audience chose them, but the fact is they could go out and sell out these venues without MySpace's support."

In addition to the tour, MySpace started its own label which signed on tour opener Polysics. Right now the label represents six bands, says MySpace senior director of A&R Jon Pikus. The bands were selected on the strength of their online buzz, plus traditional factors such performance chops, songwriting and charisma.

More so than the tour, the industry was expecting a lot from the MySpace record label, said Cohen. Initially there were many artists who attributed their discovery due to their MySpace sites. But their popularity fell flat in terms of selling albums. So this called into question the hitmaking power of MySpace, which hoped to utilize its site to find up-and-coming artists, said Cohen.

Still, the bands on the label say MySpace offers them great online exposure and other benefits. Singer Aja Volkman liked MySpace's hands-off approach to creativity. Her band, Nico Vega, created a lot of buzz at the past South By Southwest music conference, but they picked MySpace Records over other prospects.

"They're brand new, so their passion is really high and I also think they're also sort of where the people are," said Volkman. "With some labels, you can sign and you don't know how they are going to introduce you to people. But with these people, all they have to do is open the door."

And for a band like Polysics, a Japanese new wave band opening on the MySpace Music Tour, MySpace Records made sense in widening their reach to American audiences.

"Through the Internet they have a much bigger audience space, we feel we can connect to a lot more people than through the previous label," said Hiroyuki Hayashi, Polysics vocalist and guitarist.

As for the future, the label hopes to expand to a dozen artists, including urban and hip-hop acts. The site itself is also breaking way for filmmakers, fashionistas, comedians, models, actors and photographers, said Pikus.

And another tour is planned for spring, as an evergreen program, said Electa. They are hoping to fill the lineup with emerging artists like a band who has over 100 thousand friends on its MySpace site.

"It's crazy how a little Web site can start from nothing and become something so incredibly widely known," said Forrest Kline, lead singer of hellogoodbye. "I don't know if they're trying to promote themselves more or something, but everybody knows about MySpace."

Marian Liu: 206-464-3825 or mliu@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company