MySpace's 2003-2015 Song Deletions, And How This Impacts The Sault Metal Scene

Today, I wanted to address the recent news that broke concerning the apparent loss of songs posted to MySpace between 2003 & 2015 due to a "server migration project." Many international news sources have been covering this story in the past few days (BBC News is one example), with varying degrees of skepticism as to MySpace's motives and handling of the content, and estimates say that up to 50 million songs have been lost as a result. As someone who frequently visits and researches social media pages featuring local bands, I know first hand that this isn't a shocking development for a couple of reasons. In recent months, readers will recall that we had acknowledged the demise of PureVolume and CBC Music's independent band page services, and neither was actively used by current local bands as it was. MySpace was very much in the same boat, as newer social media websites and applications have taken precedence in this regard.

As well, I know first hand that the media players on MySpace haven't worked in months and months, appearing to show musicians' uploaded songs, but never playing them, so I think that their "server migration project" is not a new development. Truth be told, local band pages that I have visited on MySpace today mostly look how they did before the news broke. Many photos still load, but videos don't appear to, and songs are apparently lost, despite appearances. When MySpace first had it's major layout overhauls in 2013, I backed up band pages that I could in a text document for research purposes, but alas, I am too late in 2019 to back up music, unless they can re-locate material from the server migration. With a couple of exceptions, MySpace was not a going concern for current local bands hoping to promote themselves in the mid-late 2010s, but this news does force me to make some noticeable changes to our band links.

A number of the local metal, hard rock, or punk artists that we linked on the SMS via MySpace were primarily because of their song postings, and if there's no described or substantive photos there, or official pages on other sites, I can't justify keeping them linked on here, as I only link to bands whose official page still has music, videos, or useful band information. If you see MySpace links on the SMS after today, it's either an oversight, or I felt they had enough content to remain listed.

For this reason, I am reluctantly removing these acts from our inactive Sault Ontario band links: The 12 Gauge Ready, Andrew Angelic, Bankshot, Bill Satchels, Bin Hawdon & The Taliband, The Bottom Half, Brad Example & The Role Models, Brendan Christie, Dark Salvation, Divinity Collapsed, Dreamscape, Eden Plague, Face First, Faithless Sin, Fitswitch, The Fury, Glunk!, Good Morning Gorilla, The Hangdowns, The Harsh Heads, The Joe Falco Experience, Lee Maines, Nite Wulfe, Out Of The Mouth Of Babes, PYSS, Room 206, Sneaky Pete, Squirrelboy & The Smiling Giraffes, and When They Fall. For Sault Michigan, I have removed these acts: A Shade of Light, BlisteringBane, Deprecor, From The Ashes Of Angels, Gentlemen's Bet, The Grape Slushies, Mike Libertoski, Monkey's Uncle, Mugwort, Orb, Outshined, Riot! By Night, Savage Roar, Self Control, The Slackjawed Rats, and Weed.

I also dropped Mitch Sirie's solo act The Sorrow Fields from our active Sault Ontario links, as Mitch surprisingly doesn't have an active online page for them elsewhere, but this is still an active project.  Regarding our "Other Sault Ontario/Michigan Metal Links" sections, I didn't have to remove anything there, aside from Sault Michigan's Klusterfunk Studios, best known to readers from Clownsack recording albums there. Also, I have replaced Scofflaw's link with their Facebook page, and if any of the above bands have an official, self-created page that I locate on another service, I'll definitely bring them back (Wayback Machine/Oocities archives, fan sites, news articles, and YouTube channels don't count.) Of course, there are some MySpace pages that remain linked, but this is predicated on no more deletions or "server migrations" causing any losses of data, or perhaps even an artist deleting their old page intentionally. We'll keep you posted when/if anything is found or learned.

While MySpace is still alive, it's a shell of it's former self, and any changes the site made in 2013 to make the service more music friendly just served to strip away anything that made it interesting for musicians before then. I can count the local bands who actively maintained their MySpace page in the mid-late 2010s on one hand (Destroilet is a good example), but even their page's songs don't work. In The Sault Metal Scene's earliest days, MySpace was our most important source of local band pages, and while Facebook would supercede it by the turn of the 2010s, it remained an important resource until band profiles were wiped out in 2013. The customization options, friendly culture, and wide footprint of 2000s era MySpace made my early Sault Metal Scene work so much easier, and I can still remember how much a profile's "Top 8" friends could create a rabbit hole trip to even more relevant bands and projects. For reference, here's what's left of The Sault Metal Scene's MySpace page.

I wish MySpace had warned users in advance that their old materials may be deleted, which would have gave me time in 2017 or so to back things up, but what's done is done. Hopefully everyone out there has backed up their media on MySpace (or just never deleted it), but if my hand must be forced into cleaning up our band links, at least things are more current and relevant for content across the board. Check the above links and your preferred news outlets for more on MySpace in 2019, and stay tuned for more news and notes on the SMS soon! Thanks everyone!

MySpace's New Layout & Band Page Info Deletions, And How It Affects The SMS

This post is dedicated to outlining changes to one of our biggest band page sources, and what this means for our links and coverage at The Sault Metal Scene. In a nutshell, social networking website and popular band page resource MySpace had a new profile layout, format, and direction rolled out last weekend, which focuses on music and artists. You think this would be good for what we do on the site, especially as the past uses of it as a social networking portal have fallen by the wayside compared to Facebook and Twitter, but not quite. As part of the upgrades, almost everything has been deleted from old MySpace pages with the exception of songs (if you had any uploaded), your existing friends (now called "connections"), and your profile photo. Biography information, videos, blog postings, page comments, most external applications, and games are all gone, though other photos can be retrieved on request if you log in. I'll note that MySpace administrators did not give any advance warning about these deletions, and while there is a visible outcry from existing users, I have little faith that MySpace will bring the info back (though Microsoft did revert on some of it's unpopular Xbox One policies, so who knows.)

Now, what does this mean for the site and local metal/hard rock bands? This honestly won't have a direct bearing on most current artists, as few local bands primarily used MySpace for their online media anymore compared to Facebook or Reverbnation, but this is a major headache for me and local music fans who used MySpace to catch up on older local bands. Unlike the closure of GarageBand, MySpace didn't give advance warning that they were going to delete so much from pages, so we went from a vast resource of band information to a stripped down version that feels more like a glossed up Soundcloud out of nowhere. To be fair, there is potential for the new MySpace, as Sault Ontario hardcore band Destroilet have made effective use and updates of their MySpace page, but they lost all old info too when they upgraded early, and many bands had a lot of information, posts, details, and videos there that was really a benefit to fans of local music. If the goal is to turn MySpace music-centric, why delete things that would have supported that aim?

As a current use site, this won't be a major loss, but in terms of material and SMS usage, this is a huge blow, but to try and soften it as much as I could, I archived biography information and details on as many local metal/hard rock bands that I could using cached copies of each using Google, so save for blog posts and videos, I think I have much of what would be handy. However, I had to update, change, and in some cases, delete some band links due to the "updates", as they made almost all local band MySpace pages shells of their former selves, and no longer the most updated and representative page for their information, material, and concert listings. For some, I left their MySpace page linked here as it still had audio material, and still remains their most substantial (or only) online page, but I saved info for most via cached page copies. For an unlucky 15 bands, the MySpace changes eliminated all info that kept them in our listings, and because they have no songs there, or other surviving online pages, I had to regrettably delete them.

Just to outline all the changes to the band links on here, I'll run through them quickly, and if a specific band isn't mentioned, I either left their MySpace page alone out of necessity, or they weren't linked to MySpace in our band listings. Most of the link switches were to Facebook pages or groups, with Sault Ontario bands As It Stands, The Bear Hunters, Changing Waves, Destroilet, Detroit, Dirty Virgin, For All That Is Lost, Gates of Winter, The Issues, Lion Ride, Lorax, Paraside, Riverin, and Shit Liver, and Sault Michigan bands Clownsack, Drayton Fever, Insipid Brutality, Life's Eclipse, Nixxon Dixxon, Oddfellow, Scofflaw, Swampghas, and Unleashed now linked through there. I also switched 5 bands each from their MySpace to Reverbnation & PureVolume pages, with Bad Side, Elipzis, Integrated System of Machines, No Arrow, and Skull After Betrayl now linked through Reverbnation, and Apocrytha, Dark Salvation, Fitswitch, Infrastrate, and Mike Libertoski now linked through PureVolume.

I also moved two bands from MySpace to SoundClick pages (No Remains & Traces), while the other switches were for single bands, which now link to 2wo Man Baand's Freewebs page, ApocalyptiCDistroyeR's Wix website, Bent Rollercoaster's OurStage page, and Woods of Ypres' Bandcamp page. As for page deletions, as these artists had no songs on MySpace or other existing online pages, I regrettably have deleted 15 metal/hard rock acts from our SMS band listings, including Sault Ontario artists Caedis Omnis, Ephidel, The Pisstanks, Route 69, Steven Flint, When They Fall, and Wrathborne, and Sault Michigan-regional artists 7/47, Cherubic Red, Riot! By Night, Savage Roar, Shift, Traynwreck, Twisted Manikin, and Wild Fate. Most weren't too active in their heyday (Shift & Route 69 being notable exceptions), but even though I hate deleting links, I had to so we didn't link to barren, uninformative pages for the sake of preservation. No offense is intended to these bands' members!

The last switches that I have to make relate to MySpace links for non-bands on the site, and I'll tackle that soon. I hope MySpace administrators listen to their fans and bring back at least previous profile information, photos, blogs, and videos, as all would benefit their music-centric aims and show that they listen to their users, but I'm not holding out hope that they will. I just wanted to let you guys know about what happened and how it affects the SMS, and if your band has a MySpace page, I'd say spruce it up and make use of the new features, even if what's old is lost, as I can see it having some good uses. It's just a frustrating no-warning change, but I think we'll be alright in the long run. Stay tuned for more news soon, and thanks for the patience!