I have tons of friends who are slutty teenage girls. My Space rulez.
I can only speak for myself. I have 5 MySpace pages, 3 Music pages, a page for my podcast, and a personal page. My main music page is not MY music. I maintain it for a musician with her permission. It’s a fan page, but authorized and supported. While not one of those big MySpace success stories you read about (and thank goodness), in the last several months her music has gotten more attention from people who matter to me (that is, other musicians) than she has in the last 20 years of making music.
The key is that unlike most of the celebrity pages, which are most often fake, the MUSIC pages are more often than not run by the bands and solo artists themselves. The bigger the band, the less likely they are to pay attention to MySpace (either their record company or management or fans run pages). Sure, you’re not going to find Tori Amos herself on MySpace, but I think people would be amazed at who is actually on MySpace. Of course, it depends on how musically-knowledgeable they are. Probably the biggest mainstream-known name I could mention is Alannah Myles (“Black Velvet”) who runs her own page and who sent me a nice note saying how much she liked my artist. Marianne Faithful doesn’t run her own page but she reads it, and she likes my artist. Chris Martin (Coldplay) has his own page (and I know it’s real) but it’s ruled with an iron fist. Whereas Coldplay’s page has hundreds of thousands of Friends, Martin’s page has, last I looked, less than a hundred, and he’s had it for a long time. I guess he only lets you on if he really REALLY likes you, and though I’ve never gotten a note, he must like my artist because he let her on his list twice (the second time was after her page was deleted accidentally by MySpace a couple of months ago and I sent another add request). The lead singer of World Party, the guitar player of the Trashcan Sinatras, the lead singer of Bel Canto, the lead singer of Velvet Belly…they all like my artist, and discovered her on MySpace. I could mention lots of other names that made me do a double-take when I realized it was them but the names probably wouldn’t mean much to most people.
In any case, in my case, I never request adds from individuals, only other musicians, and it’s been an amazing thing to watch other musicians giving her the awe and respect she deserves.
On another side, I’ve found so much music that I hadn’t know about before, it’s almost overwhelming the amount of good music on MySpace, hundreds…thousands, of really REALLY good bands/artists. Oh yeah, there are lots of crappy bands, but I rarely come into contact with them and they rarely seek out my artist, so I don’t have to hear much of it. About the good music though, not a day goes by when I don’t find someone I shake my head and say “WOW!” about.
So for me, it’s all about her, and the music I’m finding.
Personally though, and back to the OP, I agree with all the bitching about the service and the problems, though the recent problems weren’t their fault. I’m sure this recent blackout and millions of unhappy people will make them shore up their backbone something fierce, and it can only get better. It must have made them stop in shock at how this multi-million dollar enterprise could go poof just like that.
Politically, I HATE with a passion the owner, and how MySpace is determined (no cite, just a feeling I have) to thwart liberal content. While I keep politics out of my other 4 pages, on my personal page I had some political content, and recently that content was deleted. My page as a whole wasn’t deleted, and the non-political content was left alone, only the political content disappeared. At first I thought I was hacked, but now I don’t think so, I think it was someone at MySpace. Of course I have no proof. I almost started a Pit thread about it, but would have gotten chomped because I realize that “just a feeling” doesn’t cut it, even in the Pit, but I still think so, and it still pisses me off. Not that that’s going to stop me from putting up even more political content if I feel like it. It’s a private venture, they can delete whatever they want to, but until “NO POLITICS” is part of the Terms of Service, I’ll do and say what I want. On my personal page only.
Still and all, no matter how frustrated I get, it’s free, and for me, for the sake of my artist, MySpace is more than worth the trouble and headaches. For now anyway.
Okay, well now I have to ask. Who is the musician you maintain the myspace for, Equipoise, and can I have a link?
I’m not going to say her name in the Pit. She doesn’t deserve to be part of a Pit thread, even one as mild as this, which really should be in MPSIMS, but it’s her.
Unfortunate timing…
!!!1111111111111
loLz
I dated a guy who lost his virginity to her. What a small world this is.
I think you must be thinking of someone else, or else you’re having me on for some reason. Where did this guy live? What was his first name? I’ll write her and ask if she remembers him. Did she give him any rare tapes? 
I"m just wondering what it is about MySpace that causes people to create sites with really, truly awful design. I’m not talking about 1996-style design, or 1998 Geocities-style design, but far, far worse.
Ahem. Pix?
I think Myspace got lucky. Its a good, site, but not a great site worthy of its immense popularity. I think the thing that got Myspace huge is its incorporation with music and bands, since they can have their own myspace accounts and post tour dates and such.
Ever since Tom sold Myspace for that millions of dollars, I don’t quite understand why the website has so many technical problems. And the fact that Tom is still there makes me believe that he is a corporate puppet now.
I also believe that the new owning company (I forget their name) purposely lets Myspace have a few technical problems…it makes the site unique its it own quirky way. Myspace has always have minor technical problems, and I think its beginning to turn into a love-hate physchologis that keeps people addicted to it.
I also found this google trend interesting:
http://www.google.com/trends?q=facebook%2C+xanga%2C+myspace%2C+livejournal%2C+blog%2C+friendster
His name is Joe and he grew up in Newark Valley, NY. I am not having you on. Go ahead and check it you want.
A friend of mine asked me how to use CSS and <div> tags to give different parts of a page different backgrounds.
I asked him what he needed it for, he told me MySpace, I told him I didn’t know how to do what he was asking. 
One thing I really like about MySpace is that you can connect with former classmates. You just list your schools and your graduation year, and classmates can find you. I have reconnected with many old high school friends, and it’s been great! I also have about 10 family members and a ton of friends on my page and we use it to keep in touch. Since I moved across the country, it has been really useful for keeping in touch with everyone back home.
I wonder if LiveJournal, the previous outlet for teen angst, is hurting because of the MySpace phenomenon. Then again, LiveJournal was always home to emo kids, while MySpace seems to attract the hottie crowd.
Try Friendster. I have no need for these trumped-up guestbooks but if I did I would have one at Friendster and bypass the Murdoch ickyness. Plus there are far fewer people at Friendster so there are fewer idiots. Plus, no people from high school who want to reconnect! Always a plus.
I don’t know why anyone needs anything besides Livejournal anyway. It’s the best!
I don’t think it’s hurting that badly. Different niches and all that. For instance, Livejournal fills the “not wanting to hear the latest double-bass, slamming drums crap at maximum volume as soon as I load the freakin’ page” niche. And that’s an important niche ;).
Rupert’s not gonna like that.
Perv.
Hmm, I looked that up on Google maps. That’s not real close to where she was born, grew up, went to school and lived after school (in the Hudson River Valley, Poughkeepsie/Albany/Troy area), but it’s the same state. I can’t imagine how they got together being so far away. I believe you though. That had to have been in the early '80’s. I feel kind of pervy being curious about it, but I am. She’s very shy and I’d imagine she’d be mortified at the thought of people discussing her sex life on a message board, so I haven’t decided if I’m going to mention it to her. I wonder if he knows her work now and realizes how lucky he is. I’m a heterosexual, but my god, she’s beautiful (in a very unconventional way) but most of all, she’s scary talented and the kind of artist music historians will look back at and shake their heads at how she was ignored in her time. May her future autobiographers not find this thread archived anywhere.
Friendster isn’t right for me personally (said because you did direct your post to me) and your points don’t apply to me, though they would to others. For one, since I don’t request adds from individuals, the only regular people I have to deal with on MySpace are HTR fans and fans of other classy artists who discover her through those pages. The rest of MySpace and the idiots abounding (and yes, there are millions of them) rarely swim into my consciousness. Sometimes, just as when I took a look at the blog Comments of Kevin Smith or Comments on The Inconvenient Truth page, I do run across unbelievable idiots, but they’re in and out of my mind within minutes. Second, since I’m only interested in HTR fans, potential HTR fans and musicians, MySpace is, hate to say, the place to be. For me. I agree about the Murdock ickyness 100%, but in my case I have to be at MySpace. About your other point, I can’t imagine anyone from my past/school would be interested in finding me, thank goodness, so I don’t have to worry about it on MySpace. My last name is nowhere on my personal page anyway.
You’re going to the wrong pages. Not that I don’t ever hear crappy music, but I listen to dozens of songs a day and I get the crappy ones only a few times a week. I hear more mediocre songs that crappy songs, but the really good and interesting songs I hear are plentiful and more than make up for it.
Why is this thread in the Pit?
Ok, I’ll go along with it. Here’s a MySpace pit rant:
FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU ALL TO HELL THOSE FUCKING GODDAMNED “TALKING” SMILEYS ADS!!! YOU WILL NOT MAKE ME BASH MY MONITOR IN, BECAUSE IT’S A LARGE, VERY NICE MONITOR, SO QUIT MAKING ME FEEL LIKE BASHING MY MONITOR IN EVERY TIME I HEAR YOU SAY “HELLOOOO!” WITH THAT FUCKING BORED LOOK ON YOUR UGLY FACE, OR YOU THERE, THE ONE THAT URGES ME TO “SAY SOMETHING!” AND FUCK YOUR LITTLE BUDDY TOO WHO ALWAYS HAS TO SAY “WHAAAT???” AFTER YOU SAY THAT! AND FUCK THE BITCH WHO SAYS “YOU MAKE ME BLUSH” AND THE ASSHOLE WHO SAYS “BITE ME!” FUCK ALL OF YOU AND THE COMPANY THAT MADE YOU!
FUCK ANYONE (teenage girls who think they’re “cute” I assume) WHO CLICKS ON THOSE TALKING SMILEY ADS THAT MUST ENCOURAGE THE FUCKING COMPANY TO KEEP RUNNING THE ADS. I HOPE YOU GET EVERY KIND OF SPYWARE AND ADWARE KNOWN TO MANKIND AND YOUR COMPUTER DIES AND YOUR DAD HAS TO TAKE IT TO THE DUMPSTER BECAUSE NO ONE IN THE FAMILY KNOWS HOW TO GET RID OF SPYWARE AND ADWARE, AND THEN YOUR DAD PUTS HIS FOOT DOWN AND SAYS “NO MORE COMPUTERS” BECAUSE YOU JUST DON’T KNOW HOW TO TAKE CARE OF THEM. HINT: NEVER EVER EVER CLICK ON ADS, BECAUSE THE MAJORITY OF THEM WILLPROBABLY GIVE YOUR COMPUTER SPY AND/OR ADWARE, AND ESPECIALLY DON’T CLICK ON “CUTE” TALKING SMILEY ADS THAT RUIN THE MUSIC I’M LISTENING TO, DRIVE ME CRAZY, AND MAKE ME WANT TO BASH MY MONITOR IN!!
And Fuck the bastard who messed with my personal page too.
Btw, anyone who goes to MySpace should probably run spy/adware programs often. That’s one of the things I do hate about MySpace. It clogs up my computer with crap. I run Ad-Aware SE AND Ewido at least 3-4 times a week. I wish more people would complain about that. I really can imagine there are people whose computers have practically stopped running because of all the shit that MySpace puts on their computers, and they don’t know what happened or how to fix it.
trublmakr mentioned above about it knocking out his DSL. I wonder if that’s related. I have a little icon that shows my CPU usage in my taskbar, and some pages make that drop to near zero. Some pages have also made both Firefox and IE freeze up, in which case I have to crash out, reboot and run the 2 programs above in Safe Mode. Yeah, technically, MySpace sucks big time. I wouldn’t argue that for a second.
And still, for me, and for my artist (I don’t work for her, I’m just a fan), the good outweighs the bad. There’s nowhere else on the Internet I can find so many other musicians I can access on a personal basis. To me it’s concentrated bliss.
I’m pretty sure s/he is talking about people who code music videos that start automatically into their pages so that as soon as you open up their profile you get some dumb Top 40 shit blasted at you.