Wilcox vox.

Sordid tales of stalking and gawking on myspace.com are all over the local and national news. Parents everywhere are concerned that the online friend network is going to pluck their adolescent children from their protection and send them tumbling into the arms of weirdos waiting in the wings.

But I don't have kids and I think myspace is a bore, so I don't pay the matter much mind. Instead I'm becoming more interested in the way bands are using myspace more than their regular websites. Nine Inch Nails, for instance, posts videos of live performances regularly on their myspace site, while updating nin.com perhaps once a week. Further, people searching for new music are becoming accustomed to the myspace format, which makes browsing and listening all the easier and more accessible. The value of band websites evaporates every time one makes a new myspace page. It's not far-fetched to suggest that band websites may become obsolete entirely.

It seems myspace is on its way to becoming a microcosm of the entire web. Soon everyone - every commercial entity, every non-profit organization, and every religious institution (yes I'm stretching) - will have their own myspace site. And then we can stalk them too.

(photo courtesy of www.myspace.com)


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