So you have a decorated profile and a few friends, but not enough – what’s next?

Start by browsing your friends’ friends – look for people you’ve met, people with musical interests that describe your style, and anybody who just looks like someone you’d like to know. Accompany your invite with a short introduction or write a longer one by sending a separate message. Mention why you’re interested in them and the friend you have in common so you look like an interesting artist instead of a spammer.

Look for other musicians and do some networking. Just like any other career, it’s smart (and fun!) to meet peers in your field. I spent some time browsing profiles from my area in my music’s genres, listened to their tracks, and sent friend requests to artists I really liked. Again, introduce yourself. Tell them why you like their music, let them know if you’re local, and invite them to listen to your music as well. The more you get involved in your scene, the more opportunities you’ll find to play at gigs, collaborate, promote yourself, and be heard and recommended by others.

While you generally want quality connections (people who are fans of your music), it can also be good to pad your friend count a little in the beginning. Padding won’t help you if your music is terrible, but it can make you look a little more alluring to the passerby if your music is good.

To do this, send friend requests to your favorite bands, radio stations, organizations, celebrities, YouTubers, etc. These are useful connections even if none of them pay attention to you, because it keeps you up to date with people and groups you care about. Don’t send requests to random people – some of these users may like your music, but most who accept are also hungry for numbers and won’t give you a second thought. Even worse, someone may think you had a real interest and be hurt when they realize the truth.

But what do you do to keep your friends interested? Stay active on the site. Sign in regularly, check your friends’ status updates via your “home” page, subscribe to your favorite blogs, and comment. Reply to messages and comments on your profile. Also, keep an accurate event calendar, make occasional status updates (so you appear on everyone else’s “home” page), and blog. This will keep you in the thoughts of your friends and fans and increase the chances of getting them out to a concert, release party, or merch vendor.

So far my friend count is up to 22 for my pop Myspace, and 58 for my classical MySpace, with pages of requests pending. I may not reach my goal count, but the important thing is to keep trying and marketing my music.

What will be the final results of my February experiment? How has having a MySpace Music page already helped me? Find out next time in the final installment of the MySpace Diaries. Meanwhile, I invite you to watch in real time as the mysteries unravel by adding me as your friend: http://myspace.com/candacebilyk and http://myspace.com/pommedeterre.