Is there a world in which Myspace could come back? “Who knows? Our story really told the origin of it all,” says director Tommy Avallone, whose film, simply titled Myspace, had its world premiere Monday night at Toronto’s Hot Docs Festival and will enjoy a second screening tonight (April 28).
The film explores the history of the world’s first social networking site, featuring interviews with people it made stars, such as Dashboard Confessional’s Chris Carrabba, Dane Cook, Jeffree Star and Tila Tequila.
“Myspace really normalized talking to strangers,” Avallone told Now during a sitdown interview on Monday. “It’s crazy how our day-to-day is talking with people we don’t know. Kevin Smith even says it. Most of his validation comes from strangers.”
Myspace was co-founded in 2003 by Chris DeWolfe and Aber Whitcomb — both in the film — and the infamous Tom Anderson, whose photo was every user’s first “friend.” Two years later it was sold to Rupert Murdoch’s Newscorp for $580 million USD, which was the beginning of the end, especially with the launch of “TheFacebook.”
In 2009, Specific Media Group and Justin Timberlake bought the stagnant platform for $35M but it failed to reignite in popularity. It is now owned by Viant Technology. Now tried to access the Myspace site before publishing but got “server error” message.
Why is now the right time to do a doc on Myspace?
I’m old enough to have had a Myspace account, in my 20s, but all the kids graduating college and entering in the real world now are entering in a world where social media always existed. Myspace’s DNA is in everything, all the dating apps, all the TikToks, all the social media. So, it’s interesting to see how it all started and its intentions.
What was on your Myspace page?
You forget, right? You think Myspace was just a couple years ago, but it was such a long time ago. So, when I started talking about doing this, someone’s like, ‘What was your Myspace song?’ And, that song was like a bullet. I was really into [the label] Def Jux. So Cage KennyLz. Love Postal Service. Gotta love Mickey Avalon.
Is your page still there?
We don’t really get too much into the movie, but there was a data loss when they switched servers because the servers are just so old. So, it is still there, but it’s not. I’ve been able to go to the Wayback Machine and see some parts of it and I was like, ‘Oh, yeah,’ but it was later [stuff]. I wish it saved some of the earlier times, just the images alone of Myspace and new alerts and the new messages and all that sort of stuff really took you back.
Was it essentially that enough time had passed that made Chris and Aber agree to participate in the film?
The great thing about it is working with [producer] Van Toffler of Gunpowder & Sky is because he used to run MTV at the time and Viacom wanted to buy Myspace, he knew Chris, he knew Aber, he knew all those guys for 20-some-odd years. So, they trusted him in telling the story properly. I’m sure there’s not a day that goes by that people weren’t reaching out and going, ‘You want to talk about Myspace?’ And thankfully, Van had that great relationship and they were a fan of mine — and they knew how personal Myspace was to me because I met my wife on Myspace.
At the end of the film, you have that couple who met on Myspace too. You didn’t put you and your wife in there?
We had to create our Myspace pages to graphically look good, so I snuck in pictures of me and my wife and my friends.
Why do you think music was so integral to the success of Myspace and even today at the core of a lot of these social platforms?
It’s because music’s fun. Music is such an identity and Myspace screamed identity. When Chris and all the guys talked about creating Myspace, they made it look like going into your dorm room. I just remember when my friends went to college, that’s what it was. Big posters. There wasn’t a time where I didn’t see a Chasing Amy poster on someone’s wall, especially at that time and that age, music is so much of your life. That’s really where a lot of people discover who they are, through music. And with Myspace, that was it. You got to put one of your songs on there, so it was so much of your identity.
Myspace was integral to building stars and a fanbase.
Musicians and comedians, in particular, really got to build an audience that way. With the Taylor Swifts or Katy Perrys, but also Postal Service, My Chemical Romance, or even some of the hip-hop stuff, like El-P or Aesop Rock. These people were able to because rock stars were such gods back before this. Now, they’ve become human, and then you get to connect with them on a human basis. So, we were fans for life. We talk in the movie, could Taylor Swift become big without Myspace? Yes. But would the Swifties? No. The Swifties are a very social media-created thing.
You have some crucial people and voices in the film, Jeffree Star, Tila Tequila, Dane Cook, Chris Carrabba. Did you try to get Taylor or Timberlake?
You can’t get them all, right? You do your best. Tila was interesting because that was a hunt. Tila’s a controversial person. I mean, so is Jeffree. And what’s interesting is that’s how they became popular is being controversial. What’s interesting about her is she doesn’t have social media. So Van had an e-mail of hers from back when he did the [reality TV dating show] Shot of Love. That didn’t work anymore, so I had to go on this thing called Truthfinder I’m calling, ‘Hey, either you’re Tila, you’re not, so appreciate this message or not. This might be the weirdest message you’ve ever gotten today or you’re Tila Tequila’ But, eventually I found her.
I have to ask about Tom because any mention of the Myspace documentary screening and the response was “Is Tom going to be there?’ He must be the one that everyone asks about.
I have a cardboard cutout of him, so we brought that. I’ve had a bunch of different conversations with him on e-mail. But he’s just a shy guy. He did press during the time in which he was employed by Myspace and once he left Myspace, he was never to be seen again. He did one interview after that with a buddy of his. But after that the dude’s just a shy guy that likes to live his life in peace
So he’s off living his life in peace. And the other two guys, Chris and Aber, they are partners in this new business or they’re working together?
They have a lot of different projects going, and sometimes they’re partners and sometimes they’re not. But, they do work together. I’m not sure if they’re currently working together, but they’re still friendly. And, they’re just different beasts. Tom was a guy that just likes to travel and be on his own schedule, where the other guys are just crazy entrepreneurs.
When you talk to everyone involved in Myspace, with the perspective they have now, what stands out?
This was the first time a generation had a scene that was digital. Unlike the days of the Viper Room or Studio 54, all these spots that used to have a scene. You didn’t have to wait in a line or be pretty enough to be let in or know someone to get behind that red rope. You just needed a desktop computer and a password and some decent internet and you were allowed in the club. And for the first time, a real scene was online.
Is that good? I miss artists coming up in the clubs and building a following that way.
Here’s the thing that I’ve learned, it’s not good or bad. It’s just different. I talk to people who have been in L.A. in the 90s or 80s or even the 70s and I go, ‘Oh, that would have been so cool.’ But here I am thinking about Myspace going, how cool was that? There are different levels of good and bad to it, but it was interesting because you didn’t have to move to L.A. to do it. You could be a rock star anywhere. That was the first time.
The film covers the sale and the new owners who roped in Timberlake who they still might resurrect it. Is there anything brewing?
Me personally, I think they should just merchandise it. I would buy Myspace shirts left and right. At one point WWE bought their competition WCW and just used it for licensing. I think that’s the smart pull.
