MySpace has made itself absolutely essential for artist development despite its horrible interface and flawed infrastructure, though it is improving with new bells and whistles. But MySpace is a "place for friends", where you can name-check your favorite bands, put your favorite stars in your 'top 8', and be subject to the same horrors and embarrassment of rejection and failure that you were subject to in high school. Other sites such as PureVolume, ReverbNation and Loud.com are geared specifically towards bands, with a better-looking interface and a band/fan relationship format.

Enter MusicNation.com, a resource that doesn't require annoying spamming or inundation with bulletins by artists to reach their fan base. Instead, MusicNation asks bands (or their fans) to upload videos or provide YouTube links. If a fan likes what they see on the site, they can be redirected to wherever the band wants: MySpace, a website, anywhere.

By rating videos, fans push the good stuff in every genre to the forefront, or bury the junk to save other fans the time and dissatisfaction of being subjected to no-talent hacks. While the site will be best utilized by artists with little to no resources who use this snazzy startup to inject themselves into the fray, they will share the stage with major acts, as the site is driven just as much by fans as the bands themselves. The biggest bonus for independent artists is that if fans like what they hear, the band has a chance to get picked up by MusicNation partner Epic Records. No clue yet whether this silent partnership will have any impact on whether Epic competitors will be discreetly silenced on the site.

The site is still in the early stages as it's only been live in its new incarnation for a few days and is still in beta, but like all Web 2.0 resources, it needs interaction to thrive.

Tags: business, MusicNation.com, Web 2.0