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Question of the Week

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: HAVE SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES ALTERED THE METAL SCENE FOR THE WORSE?

Friday, August 13th, 2010 at 4:30pm by

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Welcome to “Question of the Week,” a (sometimes) weekly debate amongst the MetalSucks staff regarding a recent hot button issue.

Inspired this week by Vince’s response to Earache head honcho Digby Pearson’s assertion that the effects that social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook have been detrimental to metal, we decided to ask the rest of our writers:

HAVE SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES ALTERED THE METAL SCENE FOR THE WORSE?

The MS staff’s answers after the jump.

I have a lot of respect for Digby and everything he’s accomplished over the years, so I’m going to say this with my usual tact: this is the argument of a cranky old man. It hasn’t been my experience that the scene is more fractured, so, as Vince suggested, I’m guessing that’s a deathcore/scene-only phenomenon. Now it’s like everyone has their own private listening booth, available to him or her 24/7, which means exposure to more music, being able to find exactly the kind of stuff you dig, etc., which can only be a good thing. And the fact that kids don’t need record labels to get their music heard anymore is GREAT (and I suspect may be at the root of Pearson’s distress). This isn’t unique to the music biz — now more than ever before, artists who work in all mediums don’t need anyone’s permission to get out there and do their thing. How can anyone ever be upset about MORE ART? It’s not like the labels were running around signing exclusively wonderful bands. Kids can just decide that much faster now if they like something or not, and don’t need MTV to shove it down their throats.

-AR

The crux of Digby’s argument seems to be his statement of “Myspace/Facebook/YouTube have given instant power and information to anyones fingertips. Between them, they have actually changed the way millions of people go about their daily lives, and their cultural impact on the entire music scene is only just unfolding.” Except I think that sentiment is overwhelmingly positive. Though old-timers obviously revered tape trading — a great way to communicate with people across the globe by being exposed to and exposing others to new metal — the social networking universe that’s replaced it has been just as beneficial to metal on the whole, if not more beneficial than tape trading ever was. It’s democratized metal: suddenly you don’t necessarily have to know X, Y, or Z dude or live in X, Y, or Z city in order to be into X, Y, or Z band. Obviously, it’s made kids more cliquey in terms of microgenres and scenes, but… well, here’s the thing about kids: they’re shitty. That’s internet-wide and worldwide, and it’s never not been like that. Perhaps it has enabled some up-and-comers to be more passive about their fanhood, but if someone’s compelled to be that passive (i.e. just clicking a “like” button) about their devotion to a band, who’s to say they ever would have been that much more active to begin with? I find it a little ridiculous to think floppy-haired/flat-brimmed cap amateur-ninja scene kids would have gone on to be open-minded, respectable gents if MySpace, Facebook and YouTube hadn’t mucked up the works. If anything, it’s cutting to the chase. But I think the idea that the chase to which they’re cutting is detrimental to the metal scene on the whole is pretty hyperbolic. If shitty scene kids and fairweather fans didn’t exist, sadly, we’d have to invent them. Yes, things are different now because of social networking, but like Vince, I don’t think that’s a bad thing.

-Sammy O’Hagar

I sure hope so.

-Gary Suarez

It’s certainly made bands more accessible, which I think is pretty good, but it does get rid of the whole “mystery” behind them. It used to be that the only time you could find out about music was through shows and certain publications and actually meeting up with people, and for some, that made the music that much more meaningful. But it can’t be bad for the groups themselves to have easier ways of getting themselves heard. The downside is that every person and their mother has a MySpace page and a band and it’s pretty hard to avoid them… if you’re actively seeking them out. If you really don’t want to hear or see any of them, well, that’s as easy as clicking a button, too. I don’t see how a networking site can affect the music itself unless you’re listening to bands singing about Facebook, and if that’s the case then it might be time to find new music. Which the internet will help you with! Whatever, I like not sweating blood and tears to get my music, and finding like-minded people. The glorious part? The internet can be as anonymous as you want it to be, so if you don’t like it, fucking “disappear.” Or keep writing about it until someone reads it and validates your opinion.

-Leyla Ford

There’s no question that social networking sites have altered the metal scene. It’s easier for fans to feel more closely connected to bands that have active web presences, and that connection — as marketing-driven as it may be — has become what drives a long-term love of a band, just as much as the music. But I wouldn’t say the changes are for the worse, and I also don’t think it’s different than how social networking has affected anything else.

The increasing ease of quality DIY recordings, combined with the rise of the Internet as a discovery tool, means that there’s more music out now than ever before. SInce there are but 24 hours in a day, and there’s only so much attention that anyone can pay to anything, someone who wanted to be a fan of EVERYTHING will perhaps have a shallower relationship with any one band as a result. But a kid who’s looking to find a couple new heroes is gonna have a much easier time of it, since social networking sites can work as a filter, weeding out the bands that nobody cares about or that don’t care to build a relationship with their fans.

In response to Digby’s point about kids leaving shows after their favorite band leaves the stage: so what? Perhaps they listened to the other bands on the ‘net and realized that they didn’t like them. Is it a fan’s responsibility to support music that he doesn’t care about? On a similar note, a kid that hits “like” on a Facebook page and doesn’t support the band in any other way isn’t necessarily a bad fan — he’s just a fan that hasn’t built a strong enough bond with the band to spend what little money he has on an album, merch, or a live show. That’s okay. Those kinds of fans have always existed, and at least now bands are able to easily communicate directly with those kinds of fans to try and convert them to full-fledged fanhood. As it becomes easier to get your music out there, it becomes more difficult to get your music found among the clutter. That’s not the potential fan’s problem, though. It’s the band’s. Savvy bands and label heads should avoid grumbling about how social media is ruining everything, and realize the power that’s at their fingertips.

-Satan Rosenbloom

Okay, kiddies, now it’s your turn! Weigh in with your answer to the question of the week below.

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  • Anthony

    No. Social Networking sites have been good for music. Anyone who argues this is fucking stupid. Go ahead, argue it. I don’t care how intelligent you sound, but arguing that social networks are bad is like trying to argue that 2+2=5

    *waits for some smartass to reply and say “But 2+2 does = 5, doesn’t it?”*

    • Big Brother

      If The Party says 2+2=5, it shall

    • Adrian

      2+2=5 (for very large values of 2)

  • foobear

    Social Networking sites are bad for the music scene. I’m sorry, I left out a caveat – they’re bad for shitty bands in any given music scene, specifically.

    If I go to your myspace/facebook/etc page I expect to see sample music. If you don’t have sample music, or if your music blows, I will not be interested in you. Nor will most other people. You’ll get frustrated because you have no fans, and you’ll quit.

    Natural selection.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Nick-Spanish/1589212723 Nick Spanish

      so instead of finding a shitty band early on and not have to bothered with their bullshit any longer,you’d like to see shitty bands play shitty music and not get fans?

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ian-Pravata/622147016 Ian Pravata

    The initial question was why are we seeing this trend of kids showing up to a multi-band show and leaving after their favorite band finishes. Mr Earache says “the root cause is undoubtedly the massive rise and scale of the social networks” and he’s 100% correct, but his reasoning is all wrong.
    He then says “People are too lazy to make up their own mind, its just simpler to follow the crowd.” No in fact it’s the opposite that is true. When kids see a flyer with a list of bands, within 15 minutes they can stream or download, or even own every song by every band on the bill. They make up their mind, right then and there about who is worth staying for and who deserves to play to an empty venue. If they listen to a band on Myspace ahead of time and determine that said band sucks, or just isn’t their style, they are under no obligation to stay at the show.
    Mr Earache is right though, that in the past, if you didn’t know what those 10 local bands on the flyer sound like, then yes of course you would be more inclined to stay (or show up early, whatever the case may be).
    Back in the pre-internet days of the late nineties, I went to see Hed(pe) and I’m glad I got there early because there were these young, crazy kids from Iowa that nobody had heard of, and when they walked out in orange jumpsuits and rubber masks I knew I had stumbled upon something awesome.

    • zen dudeist

      you lost me at Hed(pe)

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Andrew-Sterner/1335958279 Andrew Sterner

    Yes. It’s for the better though. Just thinking 5 years back, I hardly knew many FAMOUS metal bands that i now love(So many bands, but most notably FUCKING CELTIC FROST*). I shouldn’t be blamed for this though, there was no way for to know they existed. Now that we have SN sites, and blogs like this, discovering great music from everywhere. Now, it’s no big deal if you know about a few unsigned melodeath bands from Scandanavia, just as an example.

    What I don’t get is how this is a bad thing., If a band sucks and you know they’re opening for a bands you LOVE, you can plan ahead with your friends to go grab some food or a drink, or even a quick toke while they’re on. This way, conflicts are avoided. There’s less heckling, so the mood of the show isn’t ruined. If it’s quiet and there’s 2 people in the pit(assuming there’s more than 10 people at the show), the band will(should is a better word here maybe) get the idea that they need to rethink the whole “band” thing.

    ALSO, we can now know if a band you’re dying to see live is going to be doing a show a couple cities over, you can get there. I missed quite a few concerts that i would have loved to see because I had no idea there was a killer show a couple hours away(this is especially true for those of us that don’t live in a big city).

    Not only all of that, but now that music is so accessible, word of mouth is more important than ever. I’m going to use Diamond Plate as an example(Chi-town thrash band, unsigned. I live in NC mind you). I read on this site about how they were pretty good, so I went and checked them out on MySpace. I really liked what I heard, so i ordered a shirt and their EP off their online store. I then took that EP, and burned a copy for a friend. he did the same, and so on. If they ever get a tour in this neck of the woods(I’ll drive as far as Atlanta for a show), I’ll be sure to load a car up, and raise hell at their show.

    Really, it seems as though it’s another old guy lagging behind the technology he “damn kids” are using these days. Just my 5 cents.

    *True story. A friend of mine got me into Tampa area metal when I was about 12. I LOVED thrashing out to Obituary’s version of Circle of the Tyrants. I didn’t know until the advent of myspace and such that the damn thing was a cover.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jason-Lekberg/779008102 Jason Lekberg

    Like everything else, it depends on how it is used. I do feel that the rise of social networking (and the net in general) combined with the increasing affordability of recording software is devaluing the natural selection process. It is too easy to make a product that sounds “good” and get it to those outside of your friend circle now. The former process of natural selection helped to glean the wheat from the chaff.

    Take the example of Guns N Roses. All of the members of GNR were in other bands when GNR broke, yet none of those other bands had anywhere near the success that GNR did. Why not? Because the process of struggling in a local scene brings together the best, most driven musicians – thus forming truly great bands.

    Today it doesn’t matter if your bassist doesn’t show up to practice. The guitarist will just record his parts and since you’re never playing shows anyway, you can just flood the internet with half-assed bands. 20 years ago, if your bassist didn’t show up, you’d find the bass player who quit his band cause they wouldn’t show up and have a band full of dedicated, good musicians.

    Of course this didn’t always work but it sure as hell was better than the over-saturated genre we have today.

    • Someone

      The natural selection still happens– it just happens one step further down the line. So what if there’s a plethora of crap bands with 20 listerns each on the web? It’s easy enough to ignore them, and It gives the band that DOES put in the effort and does have talent much more chance to be heard.

  • http://www.myspace.com/msrp Nic Heidt

    It’s good for getting good bands out there, it makes it harder for said good bands to make money of the music they spent so much time making.

    • Someone

      To the degree that it’s true, this is problematic.

      But I’ve bought a lot of albums by small, unknown bands that I never would have known about if it weren’t for the internet. Which makes me wonder how true your premise is.

  • http://dmxrr15@hotmail.com IsntaTOTALdouchebag10

    Just like most things, social networking has its pros and cons, and just to get it out of the way I think social networking as a whole is ruining the world, and I mean that with the utmost sincerity. Especially now that Facebook has officially established its dominance. But I digress, as that is a topic for another day and probably another website.

    Sites like Myspace, purevolume (does that still exist?) and facebook have helped the metal world in numerous ways, one cannot logically argue against that. I have been exposed to hundreds of bands that I may otherwise have not heard of, and some that I wish I hadn’t heard of. I no longer have to depend on the record labels to search out unsigned acts and pick (in their opinion) the best ones to sign and record. There is a huge conflict of interest when it comes to labels, do they sign an original band with a unique style and develop them over the years? or do they sign the seemingly next big thing and throw it in our faces? Much too often it is the latter choice. Bands with a sincere love of music and a desire to put their own stamp on the heavy music world now have the ability, through their own hard work and desire, to do so. They are able to push their music to like minded fans, give their CD’s away for free, and even promote their own shows through social networking sites. Just last week I was able to garner interest in a 36 Crazyfists show in my hometown just by posting a facebook status about it and posting a live youtube video of the band on my page. People who had never heard of the band before ended up going to the show. There is a tipping point in all things and knowing how to use these sites to your bands advantage may very well be yours. I believe it also puts more pressure on bands to put out better music. We all know the music market (not just metal) is extremely over-saturated, this puts more pressure on bands to step up their game and put out something that will make them stand out in the pack. Before, people were just buying CD’s of a band because they came out. Granted, nobody buys CD’s anymore anyway, but in terms of keeping your band relevant there is tremendous pressure with each and every release. The simple exposure factor is reason enough for it to be a positive thing overall. Bands who are making music for the right reasons should be thrilled that fans all over the world are listening to their music and spreading the word.

    As far as concerts go, I, as a fan have no obligation to show up to a band I enjoy’s concert early to sit through bands I have checked out via myspace and have no interest in seeing. If they have a problem with that there is a simple solution…make better music. I don’t have an agenda against any type of music or scene but it had better be good or I don’t need to sit through it.

    My biggest problem with social networking as far as music is also its greatest advantage. TOO MUCH FUCKING MUSIC. Each week there are an average of 3-4 new albums that come out of bands I already enjoy, add to that the bands I am discovering each week, and the albums that came last week, the week before, etc…I just cannot give all this music the attention that SOME of it deserves. And this is just metal. Multiply that by all the genre’s of music I enjoy and that is TOO MUSIC MUSIC AND MUCH TOO LITTLE TIME. The albums that I know best to this day are the ones I listened to in high school and early college (I am 24 now). I was able to go over every detail of an album back then. Becoming familiar with all the songs, the instruments, the lyrics, the melodies and so on. I miss that. Unless an album completely blows me away these days, I can only give it so many listens and by then I have already discovered more new bands, more releases have come out and then its their turn. I know for a fact I am missing out on music that deserve that attention but as someone who goes to school, has a job, friends, all my other interests I just cannot physically do it all and that is sad to me.

    There are many other pros and cons but these are the ones I felt most important. I do think that overall it is beneficial just because of the bands I have discovered because of it, I just wish I could give some of these bands more of my time and attention.

  • luomuhappo

    Yes, they’ve made every genre’s scene worse. Why ? In the 90s and 80s spreading your music was lot harder and time before that. You had to have passion to spread it. Now you see lolsurandom electrosceamop-groups, ppl with only money as a main point and no passion.

    Oh wai – one exception ! Psygoatrance has only got better.

  • http://www.suckit.com Satanicbrutality

    Wow fucking essays n shit! People got mad free time on their hands.

    • Chainsaw Majini

      This made me laugh.

  • Crack Hitler

    Talking about “better” or “worse” in this case is really a bit irrelevant, because this is just how the music industry is these days, and it’s not going back. Like it or not, this is the playing field in 2010. Digital Media has drastically changed nearly every facet of entertainment, including br00tal m00sic.

    TBH I don’t think it’s so bad. Sure – some HC lifers are complaining that kids don’t support the scene anymore and rah rah rah, but I get to hear obscure screamo bands from poland I would never have known about were we still relying on tape trading. Not only that, but by hearing everything, more people are being influenced by a larger palette of sounds. And to me, diversity and creativity are the most important factors of any kind of music.

    So yeah.

  • Nick

    I’ll leave out my opinion on whether anything truly is positive or negative, and go directly to the point at hand:

    Yes, social networking sites, and the internet in general, have completely re-shaped the way people listen to music.

    Many will point out that music is far more easily available than before, but something not quite so often touched upon is the idea of “scenes”. The internet has all but destroyed the regional scene aspect of musical evolution. Think about things like Bay Area thrash, Florida death metal, New York death metal, New York hardcore, Boston hardcore, Norwegian black metal, the Gothenburg sound, NWOBHM, etc. In the past music has evolved (as all organisms do) fastest in isolated pockets. What kind of regional scenes do we have today? Seattle (post-) hardcore is waning as a scene. French black metal/shoegaze? It’s all the same people in different combinations. Perhaps the newer SF bay area bands (Cormorant, Giant Squid, Grayceon, etc), but they don’t even have that much of a unifying quality, aside from a penchant for experimentation, and a similar incestuous (figuratively of course) relationship between bands. The regional scene is a dying thing.

    Now, I’m not saying that I want less diversity in metal, quite the opposite. What I am saying, though, is that we are looking at a loss of distinctive sounds in the metal scene (and in the music industry as a whole), to be replaced by a plethora of bands who are simply mixing other styles in various different configurations (See BTBAM, etc.), without creating much in the way of a cohesive “style” of music. Now, if that’s your thing, cool, more power to you. Have fun in the new era of music.

    Now, this will not be the end of movements within the musical world. Music has always formed through a basis of creation, rebellion, and then re-use. Re-thrash is a perfect example of a modern musical movement, but without really adding anything new to the musical genepool. (on a larger scale, nearly all forms of popular music are seeing a massive 80′s revival style right about now). New muisc will continue to be made, and this is in no way the end of the line for musical evolution, but musical evolution will be happening in drastically different ways than has been previously seen.

    Or at least that’s how I see it going down.

    **For the record, the vast majority of music that I listen to has been released within the last 10 years.

    • Nick

      Also, on the topic of shows, They are one of my top sources for not only discovering new music, but also as a way of getting CD’s from bands that I would never find in any of the local stores (or even some of the bigger ones like Amoeba or Rasputin) for low prices. I always try to show up a good 30 min before the first band at least, so I can poke around, meet the bands, check out merch, etc.. I have never regretted seeing an opening band, and I don’t see why other people would. worst case scenario, you sit through 20 minutes of some metal band you don’t particularly like. Still beats 95% of the other things I would be spending my time on. I also try to support any opening bands that I like by buying CDs, T-shirts, tour posters, etc. (depending on my own financial situation at the time).

  • Brock Sterns

    What a great banner! Who designed it? Ahh, Cysquatch, I see! Nice!

  • Blogspots… Yeah!!!

    Social Networking sites have nothing at all to do with ruining music really. Sure they’ve made way for TONS of shit bands to create a profile and post some shit music. At one point, the number of Myspace friends and plays a band had was the sole reason for a label signing said band (which was pathetic, considering friends could/can be auto added, and plays could/can be “botted”). I guess that was pretty bad…

    But what has really lead to the ruination of music, and heavy music in particular, started with torrents and has for the most part moved on to the ultra popular ‘Blogspot’. You can get almost ANY new album for free up to a month in advance, and the kids that run these blogs actually think they’re “doing bands a favor” by “Promoting” said free downloads on their ‘sites’. So how does that ruin anything? Because the kids have an ultra ignorant mindset that being compensated for your work is akin to being greedy. So if bands don’t want their music/albums posted on some blogspot for free (illegal) download, it’s simply because they’re greedy douchebags who are only “in it for the money.” Because as we all know, there are MILLIONS to be made playing death, black, and other forms of extreme metal… Right!??!

    Only “Old” people don’t get why illegal downloads should be allowed… I mean let’s face it, recording music in a legit studio with a legit producer doesn’t cost anything. So how does one justify charging for it? Printing merch doesn’t cost anything either. T-shirts should be given away!! And touring is definitely near free since a tour van/bus, hotel rooms and gas cost any band literally pennies on the dollar, right?

    Bands/Musicians don’t need any money. They just need to write, record, print merch and tour for free… because the reality is that none of those things have any significant costs associated with them, so how bands/musicians can expect fans to pay for such things and still live with themselves is beyond comprehension! Greedy sell outs!!

    Such is the ignorant mindset of the ‘blogspot’ community… that, in and of itself, is what’s ruining things for the music that we’ve spent the past 35+ years building and establishing a community for. Do a quick tally and see how many bands have broken up or called it quits in the last year and a half, regardless of the reason they gave. I guarantee you that at least some portion of it was due to the fact that they just couldn’t afford to keep going, thanks to their most loyal ‘True’ fans who downloaded all their music and never paid out a fucking dime for anything… no shows, no merch, nothing. This is the new breed of ‘Diehard fan’… who wants everything free and expects the bands to continue on with no money coming in to help fund (or recoup) the cost of anything associated with being in the band. Awesome, Right!?! The future of Metal has never looked brighter!!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Sara-Petrocelli/519197405 Sara Petrocelli

    I don’t think it is bad. It helps me get tour dates, which is one HUGE plus. I wouldn’t have known about the Vektor show I went to tonight (which was epic!) if it wasn’t for that shit because, even though they’re local boys, it’s not like metal is something that’s promoted a lot unless you’re a mega-millionaire band. I work nights, I don’t see show flyers anymore. So that’s what the social networks do for me. I don’t just click “Like” and that’s that. If I can, I go to a show. Plain and simple. Of course, there are a lot of shitty bands on the social networks, but there’s shitty bands anyway. If you don’t like ‘em, don’t listen to ‘em. And YouTube helped me find other bands that were similar to what I already like just by watching the videos. Some good, some bad, but I did find things that I now hold dear to my heart. The internet will always have good and bad aspects whether or not you’re talking solely about music or anything else.

  • Stephen

    Yes, and so have blogs suck as this one.

  • Romaould the Loquacious

    I say hell no! I full heartedly believe that social networking hasn’t upset the metal scene for the worse. If anything, it’ll prove to be beneficial in the long run, I think. Thanks to various internet sites, I’ve discovered bands I really like through myspace and the like, that I otherwise probably would never have even heard of. Digby’s really just a cranky ass turd because the “metal scene”-game is changing on him and he doesn’t have enough versatility or business acumen to change along with it and roll with the punches as it were. He’s really just wasting time and energy pointing blame, as opposed to actually finding ways to cope.

  • Brendan

    The internet has diluted music to the point where artistic integrity and the desire to create has been replaced by a bizarre need to generate and maximize page views, plays and “fans”. The onset on online music communities like myspace and purevolume has cheapened music in general. It no longer has mystique; rather, it has become mundane – every band attempting to fit a microgenre to the point where people are no longer seeking quality music but instead are attempting to fit a specific mold in which forms of music align. People now listen to genres, not individual bands. This makes me sad. I feel gross about the state of music at this point in time.

    • dokurochan2

      “It no longer has mystique; rather, it has become mundane ” +1

  • Planetmars

    Very good and important question. I think ultimately it really depends on where you are coming from. There are many that come from before this. There are many that are being raised in this. In truth I really think it is what it is and what matters will come out of it. Before there were many successes and many problems. Now there are many success and also many problems. It all still works. It is what it is. I think the answer is to find the positive elements of the moment and take from them what you can. Because just like the past moments this entire situation is well on its way to being replaced with the next big thing. The first time I got on the internet it was nothing but script. I read someones opinion about Nine Inch Nails. I get on today and it is this. I read someones opinion about social networking sites. Tomorrow it will be something else. Music will live on forever.

  • BruisedMetal

    Social networking has been a good thing for metal.. you get access to more bands you might not have heard about, hear about more shows you might have missed otherwise … most of all hear more music.. the only reason I have a myspace is because I get access to more music and more band info

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kasper-Maigaard/1027001938 Kasper Maigaard

    Oh Suarez. You crack me up.

  • http://www.deathalizer.com Antonio

    Social networking has helped us tremendously as a band. I am all for it.

    http://www.deathalizer.com

    antonio

  • EvilivE

    The bad thing about social networking is that it tricks shitty bands in to thinking that they are more popular than they really are because they have like 90,000+ “friends”.

  • dokurochan2

    i’d venture to say that social networking sites have made music TOO accessible, leading to a greater homogenization and people generally valuing music less. When I was younger it was part of the thrill to hunt down flyers to find out when shows were so that I might be able to grab another album by X band, not really the case anymore. I suppose I still could, but it’s a little too easy to just queue it up on grooveshark or myspace. Back to the first part, about homogenization, I think it’s good for scenes to have a certain degree of isolation, so they can undergo the kind of musical-genetic-drift that creates interesting new sounds. There’s no reason it can’t happen online as well, but again it seems like the magic is sapped out of it when your ‘scene’ is a web of bandcamp pages and not a dingy old firehouse.

  • Brandon

    Social Networking has become a crutch for some bands. They begin to lose the DIY efforts of the past, and lose the true fundamentals of being in a hardworking bands. Bands I know for a FACT that got famous or ‘blew up’ because of social networking are Suicide Silence, Job For A Cowboy, and The Devil Wears Prada. While some may disagree whether these bands are talented or not is beside the point. The point is that if outlets like myspace or purevolume didn’t exist, these bands may have had to tour a couple of more years or put more time into their records to reach critical acclaim. So my stance is this: If you’re in an up and coming band, sure, take advantage of technology and use the hell out of the social network medium but DON’T lose the DIY method and rest on the fact that you have 5,000,000 friends. Practice and make the best damn music you can and tour nationwide as much as possible until your name is established along with your reputation.