Before TikTok, There Was MySpace: 5 Artists Who Became Stars on the Platform
· Vice
Remember MySpace? There’s a thousand different social media apps now so the nostalgia is only really going to resonate for certain elder millennials and older. But nothing was more engaging than customizing your own profile, creating a digital setting that perfectly reflected your interests. It’s shocking more apps hadn’t tried putting music on profiles sooner.
The other perk is that MySpace allowed up and coming artists to promote their work in front of the world. They’d workshop demos they recorded to see what the larger public thought. Smart music executives who knew the power of the internet would scope the website out to see who was the next big thing floating out their into the ether.
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Nowadays, TikTok does that for people. But it’s a lot less personable and direct. Typically, people would make memes and videos promoting the record for them, not artists personally share raw music for the masses to hear. Given how deep we are into the internet age, I don’t know if we could ever go back to such tender intimacy.
Still, Tom from MySpace is at least going to try. According to owners Chris Vanderhook and Tim Vanderhook, they’re exploring what the next iteration of the website could be. To celebrate, we’re looking back at five artists who might not be here without such a pivotal piece of social media history.
Five Artists Who Blew Up From the Power of Myspace
Soulja Boy
No one quite mastered the early internet quite like Soulja Boy. He was social media savvy in a way most artists still aren’t today. He’d use early MySpace and Facebook to stir up intrigue in his contagious rap songs. Moreover, the liberty to upload his songs on YouTube proved invigorating for him. Eventually, he sparked a dance trend through the power of the internet and had everyone cranking that Soulja Boy.
Adele
A pivotal part to Adele’s early career was her tenderly singing songs in old, grainy video quality. But no one could deny she had one of the best voices you could ever hear. Richard Russell of XL Recordings clearly noticed too, signing her as soon as he saw the video. Now, she’s one of the biggest artists to have ever lived.
Sean Kingston
In an old, heartwarming video, Sean Kingston shared how obsessive he was about reaching out to people on places like MySpace. He’d accept every friend request you could imagine, just to see if they’d engage with his early work. He would borderline harass producers until they’d finally take notice of him. Clearly, his perseverance paid off.
Panic! at The Disco
Panic! at The Disco treated MySpace like how artists today treat Instagram and X: share announcements and singles and watch curious onlookers progressively engage. It seems like a simple concept now but back in the day, such internet savvy wasn’t the norm. Their diehard emo fanbase were particularly online and they adored the band’s over-the-top campiness.
Arctic Monkeys
The same way indie bands made their living by relentlessly touring, Arctic Monkeys made their fanbase by directly engaging with them on places like MySpace. They’d workshop demos, their friends shared, and their popularity ballooned accordingly. Now, a record like “Do I Wanna Know” has nearly 2 billion views. Sharing music on Facebook was never that effective.
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