Podcast: De Pasquale discusses using MySpace for entertainment beats
Many people think of MySpace as a very similar social network to Facebook, but their uses — especially for beat reporters — are vastly different.
Facebook is a great tool for education reporters. MySpace, on the other hand, has a large contingent of artists and entertainers on it, especially musicians. Just about any popular artist has a MySpace page that allows fans to sample music.
But MySpace isn’t just for popular acts. It’s a fantastic tool for bands looking to get noticed. It allows bands to post songs, blog posts and connect with fans. For these reasons, any music or entertainment reporter should be on MySpace forming connections.
MySpace has allowed Stephanie De Pasquale of The Quad-City Times to cover her beat much more in-depth and much easier. MySpace has allowed her to discover new musicians, sample their music and easily get in touch with them.
“It’s just so a haven for bands,” she said. “When I first got the beat, I just signed up for an account and started friending the bands that we put in our weekly calendar.”
She has about 350 contacts on MySpace and those contacts have been invaluable for allowing her to cover her beat better. De Pasquale doesn’t even need to be personally contacted by bands anymore to keep up on what they are doing, because bands post bulletins on MySpace when they release new music or announce new shows. In the past, this information was hard to find out about this information because bands and other artists don’t understand the best way to get press.
“They don’t think, ‘oh I should contact someone about this,’” she said. “It’s not like anyone ever takes them aside and says, ‘this is what you need to do to get media coverage.’”
Now that De Pasquale has become a social part of the local entertainment scene, she has musicians, bars and other people people contacting her to update her with what’s going on. Several beat bloggers have said that people often feel more comfortable contacting a reporting via a social network rather than going through a news organization.
“A lot of people are now getting to the point to where if they have news they message me,” she said. “They don’t even use my e-mail or phone.”
MySpace is also a great way to preview musicians. Artists usually post several songs available for streaming (some maybe available for download as well). MySpace makes it easier for reporters like De Pasquale to sample a lot of local music.
“If a band does call you and say ‘hey we’re doing this set, what about a story,’ you can easily go on [MySpace] and see if they are any good and something that you want to put your name on,” she said.
In the past, artists would have to mail her CDs. That usually didn’t happen unless it was a national band working with a promotional company.
De Pasquale and the QC Times have an innovative online feature they call Live Sessions, where they bring in bands to their studios and record them performing. The Web and blogs make this concept possible. The live sessions have become a huge hit and cachet builder with local artists. De Pasquale is booked through May with artists for live sessions.
Some other topics discussed:
- How has her blog allowed her to cover her beat better?
- What is her daily reporting like with her work appearing on a blog, in the paper and a few different Web sites?
