Is Myspace is the new “Record Label”?

When you visit the list of top artists on MySpace.com, there are three categories: Unsigned, Indie, and Major.

The irony of it all is that most of the top artists listed under the “Unsigned” category have the greatest number of friends. A New York Times article asked, “There will soon be an answer to a question making the music industry very nervous: is having a lot of friends on MySpace better than having a record deal?”. The article went to talk about the recognition that Tila Tequila has recieved on MySpace. She currently has 1,701,463 friends.

Instead of accepting a record deal, Tila Tequila, who’s real name is Tila Nguyen, is trying to succeed in her own business. The outcome of her endeavors will really show the world what the effect that social networking has had on the music business.

Eric Garland, the chief executive of BigChampagne, an online market research firm, does not have such high hopes for miss Nguyen. He thinks that she is more of an “internet personality” than an actual recording artist. The same could possibly be said for Jeffree Star (another “unsigned” MySpace artist), who plans on releasing an E.P. on iTunes this month.

If both of these artists succeed, the music industry business will possibly be forced to see what the consumers want, and that the industry must take on a drastic change in order to get customers back.