Bandwagon is following in the well-surfed wake of MySpace, Bebo and other community-based sites targeting music fans.

Mark Mulligan, senior analyst with international technology consultancy Jupiter Research, said social networking websites are a classic dotcom gold rush, and the new arrivals should take note of precedent.

When 'to google' entered the dictionary this month, it was easy to forget there were once many search pretenders. The internet is by its nature, said Mulligan, "a fragmented audience" but a small number of big players can very easily end up capturing most of the fragments.

"That doesn't stop an Eircom, or whoever, succeeding on a local basis, " he said. "MySpace is a pretty solid model as it is so it's difficult to compete head on. Either they have to be better or they have to be focused or, ideally, they have to be both, " he added.

Bandwagon chief executive Huw Thomas said the company, a joint venture with Irish telecoms firm Imagine, differs from its bigger rivals by providing music and content that is relevant to users in specific countries.

Bandwagon. ie, for example, will feature music from a wide range of both popular and unsigned Irish acts.

The company has also signed licensing deals with a number of independent Irish record labels, according to Thomas.

Bandwagon is in negotiations with the Irish Music Rights Organisation (Imro) on the issue of paying royalties to Irish artists whose material is sold through Bandwagon's portal.

Thomas is optimistic about the prospects for the Irish site. He said the UK version has been selling "a couple of thousand downloads" a month and that online music sales are growing at 30% a month.

Bandwagon claims two million page impressions a month on its site from over 50,000 registered users in Britain, checking out some 10,000 different bands.

THE speed at which the site has clocked up content and users was enough to convince Imagine to take a 30% stake in the business. In two weeks Bandwagon. ie has signed up 200 bands and 1,400 Irish users. The bigger that user base, the larger the available market that Imagine can sell into.

Imagine plans, among other things, to set users up with internet telephony in much the same way internet auction site Ebay is trying to encourage its customers to talk to each other using Skype, the web telephone service provider.

This cross-selling is very much de rigueur on the web. Last year Rupert Murdoch's News Corp bought MySpace, the daddy of all social networking sites boasting 80-million-plus users, for 490m.

That MySpace went from nought to 80 million users in just three years is a dream that a legion of imitators are trying to realise. Bebo, Bandwagon, Lastfm and even MySpace's new comedy-based spin-off are all trying to emulate the feat.

The model seems to be particularly suited to music. Willie Kavanagh, chief executive of EMI Music (Ireland), said the potential to use online communities as a marketing tool is immense.

"The beauty of it is it spreads like wildfire. It's not like a message going around a school yard. It's a message going around 50 school yards, " he said.

Kavanagh cites the example of Lily Allen. Allen fans were calling radio stations requesting her debut single before it had even been released, having sampled it online. In days gone by it was radio DJs who discovered such artists and brought them to the masses. Now it's the other way around.

"It creates genuine demand, " said Kavanagh.

EMI's scouts, who traditionally would have traipsed around pubs, clubs and community halls to discover new talent, now keep a weather eye on the community sites to see what the kids are talking about and listening to.

"It's just another piece of ground that you have to put your ear to, " Kavanagh said. But there's a lot of ground to cover. He said there is a "lot of rubbish" to be sifted through to find gems such as Lily Allen, Gnarls Barkley or Arctic Monkeys, all of whom have successfully exploited MySpace on their way to stardom.

Rowan Averill, bass player with Irish band Director, said the site was a gateway to a huge audience but agreed that quality can play second fiddle. "MySpace is a huge thing for bands but if the music isn't good you're just hitting more people with music that's not good."

The great benefit for emerging talent, though, is that it enables new fans to access music and find out about artists very quickly.

"People might see us in a magazine or in a support slot and then we're easy to find [on MySpace]. If you are on the road you get a lot more hits, " Averill said.

Not everyone is convinced, including Today FM presenter Alison Curtis. "I play demos from unsigned bands on the Last Splash, " she said.

"Lately people have been sending me links to their MySpace page. But I prefer the effort that someone has to make to send me a CD. I like that someone's actually been to a studio. Send me an actual demo.

I'd have to be on MySpace 20 hours a day to go through the massive volume of stuff. " Kevin Johnson, marketing manager for Imro, agrees that gems are becoming harder and harder to find. "You can get lost in the noise, " he said.

The noise is going to get louder as new arrivals land on the hurtling bandwagon.

HELP FROM MY FRIENDS

JULIE FEENEY has 545 friends but she hopes to make a lot more following the conclusion of an international distribution deal with a major record label, which will be announced in the coming weeks.

Feeney's MySpace profile has helped the Galway-born songwriter build up a community of fans. "It has been spreading the word. It's kind of an approval thing, " she said.

Her MySpace 'friends' can listen to samples of Feeney's work, post messages and keep in contact with her through the online pro"le. She views it as an important tool for keeping in touch with fans and for getting feedback on her music.

It doesn't seem to stimulate huge record sales or downloads but it does help build an audience, she said. Feeney is also an avid user and has discovered new artists through her MySpace friends.

"You get to do what music critics would do and listen to new music all the time, " she said.

Feeney said she has been struck by how the MySpace community takes its cues from within rather than from other, more traditional, media. Her personal website, www. juliefeeney. com, saw a spike in traf"c following a pro"le in Londonbased magazine Metro, for example, but visitor numbers on her MySpace site were unaffected.