Seventeen Evergreen on MySpace

Seventeen Evergreen on MySpace

There's room for everyone on MySpace, from indie rockers to Rupert Murdoch: Aidin Vaziri | Seventeen Evergreen is one of the most popular bands in the Bay Area. But the San Francisco psychedelic rock trio doesn't have a major label record deal, typically plays shows at smallish venues like the Make-Out Room and won't even release its debut CD, "Life Embarrasses Me on Planet Earth," until next week. Unlike predecessors such as Green Day, which paid its dues by touring in vans and selling tapes out of the back before getting any national exposure, Seventeen Evergreen has achieved its success in a thoroughly postmodern way. Earlier this year, the band members put up a page on the social-networking site MySpace.com. In just a few weeks, songs from the forthcoming album were streamed on users' computers more than 6,000 times, while nearly 400 people added them to their list of friends. In the music industry, getting an emerging band that much exposure before an album launch takes millions of promotional dollars. All Seventeen Evergreen did was spend half a day uploading some songs and pictures on a personal computer. "It's become the new paradigm," says Seventeen Evergreen singer Caleb Pate. "At first I thought, 'Why would people randomly go to our site?' But that's the way it works. People are actively searching out new bands on MySpace. It's an experimental marketing tool right now. I don't know if it translates to record sales or getting heads to a show, but it's exceeded my expectations as far as getting us exposure."