Congratulations! Your MySpace page will no longer have to look like this...

Announcing the winners of the MySpace Redesign contest, plus a special rate for the first 10 Creative Deconstruction readers to sign up for an account. Details below.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the ‘Transform your MySpace Page into Something that Doesn’t Suck’ contest! If you don’t know what I’m talking about, click here. In order to enter, readers had to tweet their best music business advice and tag it with the hashtag #CD140. As promised, today I have picked the winners. You can find all the entries by searching #CD140 on Twitter. I know I said I would only pick 5, but I made the executive decision to pick 6 instead. They’re my rules, after all.

The winners, in no particular order:

1. @LunaChicaRecord Fans are worth more than what they pay for your music. Online stores know all the info on who buys it, but do you?

2. @edhombre Make really incredible unique music. Make every gig & every artifact as amazing as you can. Repeat.

3. @radionowhere How to make it as indie band?As @tywhite sez, “quality is hyperefficient”. No point tweeting until music smokes.

4. @jensjolund DIY artists: engage authentically in all aspects of your career. Focus on what you have to give.

5. @Dezmund You cant do everything yourself. Write rehearse and perform. Enlist some quality help for all of the other stuff.

6. @richmondmike Advice for bands? Get a proper job, it’s much less trouble in the long run.

If you’re on this list make sure you are following me on Twitter so that I can send you a direct message with the access code to your new free account with MySpace 360 Wizard. Congratulations!

Important note for those who didn’t win:

If you are interested in optimizing your band’s MySpace page with the MySpace 360 Wizard but didn’t win, I have good news for you. Dave and Cara have given me 10 accounts to offer to you at 30% off the normal retail price. This is the best deal you are going to get anywhere on this tool, but you’ll have to act quickly because these discounted accounts are on a first come, first serve basis.

The first 10 people to use the coupon code ‘CD140′ will receive the discount. Click here to order.

MySpace360Wizard is a new tool designed to help bands brand and optimize their MySpace pages. Find out below how to win one of 5 FREE access codes.

Every band has a MySpace page. Unfortunately, 99% of those pages suck.

When it comes to out-of-the-box usability, MySpace ranks far, far below its more attractive cousins, Facebook and Twitter. The template is cluttered and counter-intuitive. The page is filled mostly with noise, and it takes large amounts of time and money to customize and brand an artist profile effectively. Even many well-funded bands have MySpace pages that would make an unfamiliar listener believe it was posted by a high schooler.

Yet, every band still has to have a MySpace page. Why? Can’t we just put our music on Bandcamp and call it a day? Put your music on Bandcamp – it’s an excellent service. But the fact is that many, many potential listeners stop at a band’s MySpace page first – before even their homepage – to check them out.

That’s why your page really can’t suck. Like it or not, it’s going to be making your first impression on many eyes and ears out there.

Inexpensive, user-friendly MySpace optimization

MySpace360Wizard, created by David Sherbow and Cara Peckens One Fan Consulting, aims to provide an accessible solution to the MySpace problem. It clears up the clutter, and offers a straightforward guide to help artists customize and brand their profiles.

More importantly, it helps artists optimize their profiles for conversions. When the pros set up a website they do so with specific goals in mind – the sale of a product, mailing list sign-ups, etc. What are your goals? In other words, what are you trying to get the people who visit your page to do?

In most cases you want visitors to do 4 things: listen to your music, buy your stuff,  show up to your gigs, and sign up for your mailing list.

MySpace360Wizard is integrated with all of the major direct to fan services – music players, online stores, and email marketing programs like FanBridge and MailChimp. It’s layout and navigation are designed to drive visitors to these services without having to sift through all the MySpace noise. The player is front and center, the store is above the fold, and right next to it is the touring calender.

It takes about an hour from start to finish to redesign or create a profile from scratch using the wizard. The wizard makes it pretty easy, taking the user through the process step by step. You can preview the profile at any time to make sure it’s looking the way you want it to look. It costs $99 bucks to publish the custom profile. You can check out a completed example here.

Win a FREE custom MySpace page by tweeting good advice

I’ve got 5 free access codes to give away, plus 1 grand prize  Here’s how this is going to work:

1. Tweet the best advice you have for independent bands and artists in 140 characters or less.

2. Include this link: http://bit.ly/bRWMlS (It links back to this post.)

3. Tag it #CD140

I will personally pick the best five entries to receive the free codes. Good luck!

The service is still in beta, but what do you think of the ‘New MySpace’ that this tool offers?

Time for our recap of what went on in the music industry this week. Make sure to check out anything you might have missed and leave your comments. Of course our coverage of music news is by no means exhaustive, so if you know something we don’t submit a story.

Most Popular:

• Imogen Heap shows us that DIY pays off – and takes a lot of work – Taking an objective look at what some are calling the ‘new music business model.’
• What the music industry and the credit crisis have in common – Greed is greed.

This Week:

• What makes a great live performance? – Guest post by Andrew McMillen.
• New Music Releases: August 18th 2009 – New music by Temper Trap, Cave Singers, and Choir of Young Believers.
• What will it take to unite artist, industry and fan? – An editorial on the future of the music business.
• Imogen Heap update, plus full streaming of new album – Check out free streaming of Imogen’s new album Ellipse.

Other News:

• MySpace buys iLike for $20 million
• iTunes captures 25% of all music sales, 69% of downloads

Music Video Picks:

No new videos this week. Check out the archives.

This Week in Music History:

1963 - Stevie Wonder became the first artist ever to score a US No.1 album and single in the same week. Wonder was at No.1 on the album chart with ‘Little Stevie Wonder / The 12 Year Old Genius’ and had the No.1 single ‘Fingertips part 2′. This was also the first ever live recording to make No.1. (This Day in Music.com)

There have been rumors floating around the web for several days now that MySpace was about to cut hundreds of jobs. Today it looks like those rumors were very accurate – about 480 employees are expected to be out of work by the end of the day. The news comes only a couple of weeks after Facebook surpassed MySpace in unique visitors for the month of May.

According to the press release, they are cutting staff in order to return to a “start-up culture.” This is interesting, since MySpace parent company, News Corp, just fired the social network’s original founders about two months ago. I don’t mean to add insult to injury, but I think the writing is on the wall for MySpace. Michael Arrington of TechCrunch has been keeping close tabs on the company’s troubles and estimates that another 300 jobs will be cut by the end of the year.

Here’s the press release:

MYSPACE REDUCES STAFF BY NEARLY 30%

Return to Start-Up Culture a Focus for Company Moving Forward

LOS ANGELES—June 16, 2009—As part of a plan to restructure itself into a more innovative, efficient, and entrepreneurial business, MySpace announced today that it will reduce its staff by nearly 30%. This restructuring plan crosses all U.S. divisions of the company and lowers the total number of domestic staff at MySpace to 1,000 employees.

“Simply put, our staffing levels were bloated and hindered our ability to be an efficient and nimble team-oriented company,” said MySpace Chief Executive Officer Owen Van Natta. “I understand that these changes are painful for many. They are also necessary for the long-term health and culture of MySpace. Our intent is to return to an environment of innovation that is centered on our user and our product.”

“MySpace grew too big considering the realities of today’s marketplace,” said Jonathan Miller, News Corporation’s CEO of Digital Media and Chief Digital Officer. “I believe this restructuring will help MySpace operate much more effectively both structurally and financially moving forward. I am confident in MySpace’s next phase under the leadership of Owen and his team.”

Hypebot reported late last week that although the Major Labels partners who co-own MySpace Music are happy about the amount of traffic the service is generating, they are concerned that they are not seeing the revenue to go along with it. Their disappointment was voiced during a recent closed door meeting and confirmed afterward by a variety of sources.

I am not the least bit surprised by this news. MySpace has seemed to be teetering on the brink of disaster for years now with the advent of the (superior) Facebook and Twitter services. Their precarious position has been made even clearer by the recent ouster of CEO and co-founder Chris DeWolfe and MySpace president Tom Anderson. Music has been the only thing keeping it alive and that has been in spite of the site’s clunky design and lack of features. The Major’s got behind MySpace Music most likely because MySpace was something that they finally “got,” and needed to enter the digital space somewhere. Now it isn’t turning out to be the cash cow that they had hoped for. Just another example of the Majors choosing the perceived safe route instead of doing something innovative and valuable.

When MySpace Music was originally unveiled, DeWolfe and team promised a whole host of potential revenue streams. In addition to advertising, users would be able to purchase tracks – “possibly” through a subscription service – as well as concert tickets and merchandise. When it actually launched the only functionality that remained was the ability for users to create and share playlists, and the only revenue stream was advertising. Users can’t even download music straight from the site – they have to go through Amazon.com. Does the world really need another playlist service?

Another issue is that when MySpace decided to give equity shares to the four major record labels, they effectively closed the door on the indies. The indies were the ones who recognized MySpace’s potential and made it what it was. Now that major acts get top billing they have been rendered second class citizens. Yet another missed opportunity. Social media is valuable primarily becauseit strips some of the power from people like Universal and Sony BMG and disperses it among the little guys. For MySpace to give that power right back is a step toward the past, and I think a lot of people recognize that.

MySpace is still useful for a few things. Yet, unless the new team over at MySpace can think of something to add real value to MySpace Music, I think it will only serve to further people’s perception of MySpace as a has-been platform that is quickly being replaced by superior options.

I was talking with an artist this weekend about his career, and he told me about some of the trouble he’d been having getting that first gig. Although he had previously been part of a band that played out on a regular basis, it has been a few years and most of his connections have dried up. Now he is starting from scratch and not having much luck. He’s got quite a few things going for him – a unique catalogue of material, a lot of talent and he knows how to put on a good show – but he’s contacted just about every venue in town and nobody seems to want to take a chance on him. Everybody asks the same thing – do you have a Myspace page? He gives them the address and never hears from them again. So what was it about his Myspace page that was driving them away?

From the venue’s perspective, MySpace really is a great resource. Because of the culture that has built up around music on MySpace, a band’s Myspace page is now a pretty reliable place to get a feel for whether or not they’ve got a decent fan base. All a booking person has to do is log on to an artist’s page, check how many people have connected with them, and maybe listen to a track or two if it looks like it might be worth it. If the artist has several thousand friends and most of them leave messages like, “I love this music more than my own Mother,” there is a good chance that they are able to get a few people to show up at their gigs. If quite a few of these friends are from outside of the artist’s local scene, it shows that they should be able to draw a crowd for even out of state shows. Lot’s of friends = lot’s of tickets.

Here was my artist friend’s problem – he hadn’t really understood the importance of MySpace, so he didn’t spend much time developing his presence there. With fewer than one hundred friends, he wasn’t making much of a case for himself when booking people visited to check him out.

It was clear that this was one of the factors preventing him from landing a good show. After we talked he decided to fix the problem, so he spent several hours finding people that he thought might be interested in his music and invited them to be his friends. In two hours he nearly doubled his connections and is now well on his way to building his presence on MySpace – and his credibility with venues.

It seems pretty basic, but if you want to make money as an artist or as a band, you HAVE to have a MySpace page and it HAS to show that there are people out there who like you and want to see you perform. If you take the time to do this well, it can be one of the best ways to land those first few shows.

Like this post? Subscribe to creative deconstruction by Email