Music scene finds latest hot spots on social sites

Musical heavyweights such as 50 Cent and R.E.M. can’t get by with just a MySpace page and a Web site any more. They need a virtual fan connection.

Almost daily, 50 Cent sends new videos through his Kyte.tv channel to his own Thisis50.com site, and to thousands of personal sites where listeners have embedded Kyte’s player.

Recent dispatches have included new videos with G-Unit and diatribes against rival rapper Fat Joe.

R.E.M. this week lets fans listen to its new album, “Accelerate,” on the iLike social network a week before it goes on sale.

“We hope it will get a lot of exposure, and people will recommend it to their friends, and hopefully some of them will go out and buy the record as well,” says band manager Bertis Downs.

For artists and labels, building word of mouth about an album or tour is paramount. And they’re tapping into the growing music-based social networking scene to spread the word.

Since its beginnings in summer 2006 as a social network for finding and recommending music, iLike.com has grown to 23 million members, says CEO Ali Partovi.

As the community grew, iLike added features for artists to post videos and news.

One mid-November discussion Partovi had with Bono turned into a video interview in which the U2 frontman sang a just-finished song, “Wave of Sorrow.” Once posted, it was viewed and forwarded by more than 1 million people within a week.

Then Keith Urban signed on to post weekly videos and to offer tour ticket presales and fan events.

“The Internet basically empowers consumers to get exactly what they want and artists to put out exactly what they want,” Partovi says.

Social networks’ clout is growing within the industry. In May, CBS purchased music recommendation site Last.fm. In July, Warner Music cemented a relationship with Imeem after suing the site for letting users illegally share music.