With last week’s release of Apple’s iTunes 10 came Ping, a new social network for music and musicians.
The idea sounds promising. You can follow your friends and favorite bands alike. Learn about new music. Get network buy-in regarding what to buy next. Stay up to date with the latest indie-rock escapades. You would think the idea would help good music spread more easily. The problem is that there are currently so few bands available to follow on the network. And unlike MySpace, Facebook, iLike or PureVolume, bands can’t sign themselves up. It’s an invite-only policy. The trouble is, no one’s really sure how to get invited.
Another big problem is iTune’s lack of integration with, well, anything. This information isn’t getting “liked” or “tweeted”. You have to be in iTunes to see any of it. Not ideal.
So, for the few bands who don’t need the publicity, it’s a great way to keep your fans up to speed with your latest happenings. Once the average garage band can do this too, Ping will have my accolades.