Last time I wrote about the importance of MySpace, but now it’s time to make a profile! Go to http://myspace.com, and click on “Sign Up” in the right sidebar. Look at the right sidebar again and click on “If you’re a musician, sign up here.” This is important – if you don’t get a musician’s profile, you won’t be able to upload your music. You can’t convert one profile type to another, and you can’t create multiple profiles with a single email address. Choose a strong password, and use login information that doesn’t match other important accounts.

It should be pretty self explanatory from here on out. Fill out the information, upload a photo, confirm your email, etc. Don’t worry about getting stuck in a musical genre on the first page, because you can pick a set of up to three genres that describe you under “edit profile > listing info.” Go through all of the sections in “edit profile” and fill out as much as you can – a flushed out profile is always more alluring and impressive than one with minimal information.

Now it’s time to make things pretty, right? RIGHT?

Or not. I simply cannot find a way to change the appearance of my profile. I see a group of themes that to choose from, but it’s essentially an administrator theme that is only seen on the
“home” page. I read help files about Profile 1.0 vs. Profile 2.0, but can’t figure out which I have. “Customize Profile” and “Edit Profile” bring me to exactly the same place. I’ve had a profile for ONE DAY and already I’m contacting MySpace for help.

In the meantime, I’m uploading my music (”edit profile > manage featured songs”). You can upload up to six songs, which is a nice number. Not too many and not too few.

The bigger question, however, is how on Earth am I going to reach my goal of 200 MySpace friends in 28 days?

First, I gave MySpace the password to my email (”friends > invite friends”), so it could crawl my contacts and find people I already know. Never underestimate the power of your friends and family to promote you! They already love you and your music. Let them know about your activities, and they will be enthusiastic when they let others know in turn.

I was floored – I already knew 106 people with MySpace profiles! I sent friend requests by selecting all and clicking “Add to Friends.” You also have the option of inviting your remaining contacts to MySpace. Afterwards, I changed my email password. While I may be overreacting (MySpace states that they do not retain your information), it is always better to be overly cautious than casual.

Will MySpace ever answer my email? Will anyone accept my friend requests? How will I make more “friends?” Find out next week in the MySpace Diaries! In the meantime, I invite you to add me on MySpace and watch in real time as the mysteries unravel: http://myspace.com/candacebilyk and http://myspace.com/pommedeterre.