Last month, we explored MySpace.com as a promotional vehicle and nearly perfect viral marketing tool for indie bands, artists, labels and other music industry types. Back then, MySpace reported about 59 million profiles; as I write this now, it's over 65 million. That kind of growth is a big reason that multibillion-dollar media giant News Corp. paid a whopping $580 million to buy MySpace owner Intermix Media nearly a year ago. News Corp., which is controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch, is best known in the U.S. for its family of Fox brands (Twentieth Century Fox, Fox News Channel, etc.).

Like many past pop phenomena, corporate involvement is bound to have some effect, and Madison Avenue has a history of neutering things that were once hip (think grunge spawning $900 designer ripped jeans). So will News Corp's takeover reduce the effectiveness of Myspace for indie artists and releases?

So far, News Corp. has mostly left the site alone. It doesn't look or feel much different than before the acquisition. Yet many have noticed a lot more ads and a slicker element has been creeping into the social-networking site.. Producer and engineer Dewey Cooksey, for example, says ads have become "too big, too ever-present, too offensive, and too resource hungry. Some of the [Macromedia] Flash ads really bog my system down."

One new money-generating element News Corp. has added is the use of "featured profiles," which promote TV shows like "Grey's Anatomy" (ABC) and the movie "When A Stranger Calls," a horror remake by Sony Pictures. That "Stranger" flick was particularly interesting. The featured profile was for "Jill," the main character in the movie portrayed by actress Camilla Belle but obviously not a real person. The teaser read, "Need some friends? So does Jill." That led to a standard profile complete with fake blog entries from the movie character. All of this is kind of fun (thousands of people added the fake Jill as a friend and even posted comments), but it's also, well... fake.

Of course there were probably many less-than-truthful postings before the corporate takeover. After all, the web's promise of anonymity encourages some folks in cyberspace to, let's say, exaggerate. But for many, the takeover by a well-oiled corporate machine seems even less savory. And what happens when a corporate promotion machine tries to make something seem "cool?"

While News Corp. has made few if any aesthetic changes since the acquisition, you have to wonder whether increased corporate promotion of mainstream movies, TV shows and artists will detract from attention paid to indie artists and labels (not to mention indie filmmakers, who now also have their own section of MySpace).

As for featured music profiles in the MySpace Music section, expect many more acts that are sanctioned by major labels or major-affiliated indies trying to create "buzz" about new bands. It doesn't mean you can't find cool stuff there, but you can rest assured that it's not necessarily all about the music or how much actual buzz each band has legitimately created for itself.

Then again, it's all how you look at it. Reed Baker, CEO and owner of New York City-based label Sophist Productions, says the News Corp. acquisition has created a more honed ad machine and therefore better ways for indies to reach fans. "We want to be able to reach the largest audience possible," he says. "Being the behemoth that it is, [News Corp.] knows the entertainment game... As an independent label, I'm looking forward to advertising on MySpace-and knowing it's not someone in a garage determining who sees my ads."

Still, many hope that News Corp. will remain relatively hands off for fear of starting a revolt among members. "I get a strong vibe that spirit will triumph over the mighty dollar here, and MySpace will stay away from the mainstream" says MySpace artist Hip Chainey. "After all, it is already very cool, and you can't buy that." (Well, actually it seems that you can for $580 million).

There are other potential pitfalls to MySpace that have nothing to do with the News Corp. acquisition. For one thing, artists have already discovered that getting "adds" from other MySpace members has become harder as the number of bands (and add requests) has skyrocketed. Take MySpace member and music fan Devon, who added every band that requested her attentions when she first joined. "I grew tired of that though, and tired of all the bands that requested when I didn't even like that kind of music at all," Devon says. "I cut almost all of the big bands and small ones that I hadn't even listened to." She now favors artists who take the time to email her or at least gauge her musical tastes.

Myspace artist CC says bands need to create more of a personal connection. "I find that most of the time this attitude pays off because people feel it-that you're interested in them as a person and not just as an 'ad'," she says. "I've gotten gigs and connections from other really cool bands too who are not 'all about me, me, me'."

Of course, bands helping one another is an age-old tradition. But when it comes to fans, does MySpace really put food on the table? "Whatever you do has to convert to people coming to shows or people buying CDs," says Tim Sweeney, an artist and owner of artist development firm Tim Sweeney & Associates "I haven't found any artist who can show me anything better than five to 10 CD sales. And they're spending 100 hours to get those five or 10 sales." Sweeney also says he knows artists with well over 10,000 MySpace fans but who can only get three or four of them to come to shows. And because many MySpace members are under 21, "a number of them aren't even old enough to go to shows," he says.

And, of course, there's the truly dark side of MySpace: Sexual predators and pedophiles who use it to pursue their sick activities. Because there's no way to confirm the information in any MySpace profile, a 50-year-old male can claim to be a 15-year-old boy to strike up an email relationship with a teenaged girl. Using the profile, the predator can access reams of information, including photos, personal data and blogs she may have innocently posted without imagining that a bad person might use them for nefarious purposes.

Adult musicians are also at risk. "Artists have told me about problems with these guys just showing up at their doors," Sweeney says. "Some guy will email a young female artist asking to be on the street team. Or he'll come to the show and just follow her home." To be fair, a stalker could do that without MySpace, but Sweeney and others say the social nature of the MySpace community often lowers people's guard in dangerous ways. "You have so many artists who aren't very careful," Sweeney says.

So are there opportunities for new social-networking sites to emerge with better protections for members, or better services for artists and bands? Sure. One interesting contender now in beta mode is Juicecaster.com, a product of mobile marketing firm Juice Wireless. The site, which combines user-generated content and social networking, requires people who sign up to give their mobile phone number, which makes it very difficult to lie about their identities (Users must then return an SMS message to confirm that they have a mobile phone account).

On March 31, the site will launch a more feature-rich 2.0 version, followed about a month later with a 2.1 version that includes tools for musicians. Juice Wireless CEO David Herman says the goal is to create a more useful site for artists serious about promoting their music and maintaining closer fan relationships. "We think we have a better mousetrap for bands," he says. For one thing, the site will allow bands to create mobile content such as ringtones and even sell product. "The core fundamental for this is to become a storefront for bands," he says.

One area upon which Juicecaster might want to focus: Customer service. MySpace has become so inundated with members and artists that it's just about impossible to get any customer service at all. I recently ran into this when my songs weren't downloading correctly from my profile. I emailed customer service several times and never got a response (I ended up just re-uploading my songs to fix the problem). I'm not the only one who has griped about non-responsive customer service at MySpace. Take new member Sandy Rapp, who recently needed technical support. "I've attempted contacting them over 30 times and have never got an answer," she says.

Still, despite the negatives, MySpace remains a useful tool for bands that are willing to work hard at maintaining their site and focus on outreach efforts. (See part 1 of the series). However, like anything in this fast-paced digital age, MySpace faces an uncertain future stemming from either fallout resulting from the new corporate presence or competition from the next big thing peeking over the horizon. With new players being created every nanosecond, artists must keep a look out. That "better mousetrap" may be just around the corner.