Arts·Commotion

How Myspace brought music and social media together online

Music journalist Michael Tedder discusses his new book Top Eight: How Myspace Changed Music, and what made the site’s convergence of indie music and social media so special.

Music journalist Michael Tedder explains how Myspace became music's first social media platform

A screenshot of the now defunct social networking website MySpace how it looked in 2006. This page belongs to Tom Anderson, the creator of MySpace There is is blue banner on top of the page with friend list to the right and profile photo to the left. In the middle is a chat box displaying messages between an unknown person and Tom.
(Kristin Andrus)

Before Facebook and Instagram redefined the internet, there was Myspace. Invented by Tom Anderson in 2003, the social networking site turns 20 this month.

As users from that time will remember, it was more than just a place to connect with friends online; it also let young indie bands share their music with the world. Bands like Paramore, Arctic Monkeys and My Chemical Romance all had accounts in their infancy. 

The site's fast rise and subsequent decline are documented in a new book called Top Eight: How Myspace Changed MusicAuthor Michael Tedder joins guest host Amil Niazi to look back on this crucial turning point in both internet and music history.

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.


Interview with Michael Tedder produced by Stuart Berman