Serving as a place for established or aspiring artists to share their work, MySpace gives fans a way to hear the latest single from their favorite band. But at its peak in popularity, it helped launch careers. Just ask Adam Young, the man behind Owl City.
If not for the exposure his music got on MySpace and elsewhere online, it's possible Young would still be an unknown voice and his electro-pop project Owl City would be nothing more than the dream of a 25-year-old working a day job in Minnesota.
Young was still living with his parents in Owatonna, Minn., when he posted some songs on the social networking site in 2008. He's become a full-blown star since then, with two studio albums under his belt and hit songs like "Fireflies" reaching near-ubiquity.
"The Internet, for me, was certainly the biggest piece of the puzzle in terms of marketing, in terms of movement, all things business and all things aesthetic," Young told Relevant Magazine last June after releasing his second studio album, "All Things Bright and Beautiful."
"The way this whole thing started was just me simply writing five to seven songs and putting them on MySpace to say, 'Check this out,' or whatever. And kids discovered this stuff and spread it around and suddenly labels are calling and people are asking me if I want to fly out to New York or L.A. to take label meetings, and I'd never been on a plane before."
Young's insulated life growing up could be seen by some as detrimental for an artist, but in Owl City's case, it seems to be just the opposite. Young acknowledges that this isolation informed his song writing.
"I think it's my imagination more than anything else. I'm an only child. I'm a pretty introverted guy, and I'm from a small town in Minnesota," he told The Aquarian Weekly last summer. "My parents never did the extravagant vacation thing, so everything for me existed more or less in my imagination. I always write songs from, 'If I were here, would I do this?' Everything stems from my imagination. My whimsical approach is inspiring for the lyrics. I just allow my mind to wander."
Another key to Young's music and character is his faith as a Christian. Even the name of his latest album has a spiritual connection; "All Things Bright and Beautiful" was chosen because it shared a name with an Anglican hymn as well as a book by James Herriot, both of which Young told Christianity Today he connected with as a kid.
While Young's music has found success in both Christian and secular music circles, he doesn't aim at writing specifically for either group.
"I merely try to push all that aside and write sincerely from the heart, as if myself and God will be the only ones ever to hear it," he told Christianity Today in June.
"In that way, I believe it keeps my music very pure and uncontaminated by whatever preconceived notions I might start injecting into the writing process," he continued. "I just sit down to write a song as if it's the first and last piece of art I'll ever have the privilege of working on. And a privilege it is."
Owl City
When: 8 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Bear Tooth Theatrepub
Tickets: $35, all ages, 16 and younger must be accompanied by parent or guardian
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