Last month, MySpace came out with a survey of users that tried to suss out just what people between the ages of 18 and 24 were doing with their time on the slightly passe social-networking site, given that a good 45% of them said that if they had 15 minutes to spare, they'd spend it on the site instead of "watching TV, reading, talking on their mobile, or playing video games." (Also of note: 14% "have made money on social networking sites using their commercial, creative and cultural skills." Has anyone coined the term "social-networking Darwinism" yet?) And there was, of course, the obligatory listing of music trends: artists like Joe Lean And The Jing Jang Jong, Peggy Sue And The Pirates, and Conan And Mockasins, who will no doubt join Kate Nash and the Arctic Monkeys on the "we made it online" scrap heap; the terrifying new clique known as Super Super Kids, who are apparently the result of "new ravers" breeding with "new romantics"; and a smattering of musical genres, some of which don't sound all that new and some of which sound like they spent a little too much time
swinging on the flippity-flop. After the jump, some of the genres cited by the report, as well as brief descriptions that, I should note, were written by other people. (You'll see why when you click.)
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Idolator
Is anyone going to Neil Diamond's MySpace show in New York City tonight? I'm debating whether or not it'd be worth even trying to get in line once I'm off the blogging clock, and trying to figure out how the demographics of Neil's audience square with the MySpace demo. (The poster's really pretty. Click to enlarge it.) At least I'll get Home Before Dark, right? Wocka wocka! [
You'd think that someone whose album has sold 3.4 million copies in this arid music marketplace would feel that she doesn't have to promote her album by engaging in silly stunts that only use the commercial breaks on The Hills to show the world that Nick Lachey has more acting chops than she does. But in the case of Alicia Keys, you would be wrong! And her stunting has somehow gotten even more embarrassing—she's recruiting a backup singer (who's 21-30, "physically fit," and "able to dance") via MySpace, perhaps in honor of the site's new karaoke area. This is one of those times when I feel like an elopement would have at least a bit more dignity in the grand publicity-stunt scheme of things. [Billboard]
