How To Set Up A Band Profile On Myspace

Step 1: Signup

Go to myspace.com and click on 'music' in the navigation bar. Then click on 'artist signup' in the top right of the screen. Now fill out the required fields. Enter a valid email address then enter your band's name and a password of your choice. Choose the best genre to describe your sound, enter your country and postcode. Next you'll need to verify your account by entering the text from the graphic in the box, and click 'Continue to my account'. You will be taken to a registration completion screen where you can enter two sub-genres, a website if you have one, your record label if you are signed - otherwise just specify 'Unsigned'. Then click 'Continue'.

Step 2: Upload photos

You'll be given the option to upload some photos of your band. You can do this later if you like, but if you want to upload photos, click 'Choose file'. Find the photo that you want from your hard drive, select it, and press upload.

Step 3: Invite friends

Myspace now gives you the option to invite your friends to join Myspace. Enter in as many email addresses as you like separating each with a comma. You can add any extra text in the optional body section. Press 'Invite' once you're happy with the email and recipients. Skip this step if you can't be bothered by clicking 'Skip for now'.

Step 4: Songs

You can upload up to four mp3s onto your profile that people can listen to when they visit your page. Myspace now gives you the option to upload them. Click on 'Manage songs'.

Here you are given several options. You can decide whether you want to allow users to add your songs to their profile, whether you want the first song on your page to play automatically when people arrive on your page, or whether you want the order of songs played to be randomised when people visit your page.

In the top right hand corner, click 'Add a song to your profile'. Fill out the required fields - the song name, the album it's on, the year of release, the record label if you have one, lyrics if you like. You also have to decide whether you will allow users to rank the song, or allow users to download the song. So tick the necessary boxes and click 'Update'.

Now select 'Choose file' and find the mp3 on your computer's hard drive, and click upload. You will have to wait a while for the song to upload. Once it has uploaded, you'll be given the option of uploading a photo to accompany your song. Go to 'Choose file', select a file from your hard drive, and press upload.

Once this is complete, Myspace will inform you that your song has been uploaded to the Myspace server and must be converted to Myspace's streaming format and transferred to its streaming server. This may take up to 24 hours to complete.

Step 5: Band information

Once your profile is setup, you can enter all sorts of information about your band. On your profile homepage, click 'Edit profile'. Here you can enter information about upcoming shows, you can write a band biography, put down influences, and change any information about your location or genre.