Cyber Skullduggery

“Is it really out of line to post your songs for sale on another band’s MySpace page?” posits rock trio New Day Mile. “Yes it is!” they say.

Singer-guitarist James Brady is all for self-promotion, but he decries aggressive marketing tactics that rely on one-upping other performers. “A band I won’t name pasted their songs for sale into our MySpace comments. We blocked them from doing anything else on our page and deleted the comment. We’re open to letting bands we’re friends with post flyers, and we do the same on their pages, but posting their songs for sale is just straight-up disrespect.”

Despite cyber skullduggery, Brady feels bands need to acknowledge that it’s a www world. “I think people have become desensitized to printed flyers.... They’re just trashed. I’ve found the most effective marketing seems to be online social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, ilike, MySpace, and email lists. It’s time-consuming, so your music suffers, but that’s what it takes now.

“It’s all DIY. Labels are pretty much over, and you can’t even get arrested anywhere anymore if you don’t have a draw. Bands have to do it all themselves. Just playing music doesn’t cut it.”

New Day Mile’s most recent EP Damn Strate was recorded locally by Alan Sanderson, who worked on the Stones’ Bridges to Babylon album. They appear Friday, May 22, at Radio Room.