Originally from Everett, Washington, the band gained recognition through online outlets MySpace, YouTube, and PureVolume after publishing their first song "Beauty in the Breakdown" in 2006.[1] By 2007 on MySpace, "Beauty in the Breakdown" had nearly nine million plays, and the band had over 140,000 followers.[2]: 110 The song also had half a million views by August 2006.[1] Their debut album Building Homes from What We've Known had around 1.3 million downloads on PureVolume. However, as The Wall Street Journal reported in 2006 and Andrew Keen wrote in his 2007 book The Cult of the Amateur, the band made no revenue from any of these online streams.[2]: 110–111 [1]
The Scene Aesthetic's first tour in the summer of 2006 included mostly small, obscure venues such as a high school and pizza restaurant, with tickets averaging from $5 to $10.[2] Keen commented: "...their struggle to translate their massive virtual following into either significant record sales or a major label contract is an ominous augury for the other three million bands on MySpace trying to make a living selling their music."[2]: 112 Eventually, the band would tour with acts signed to major labels, for instance Owl City and Brooke Waggoner in 2009.[3]
^ abcHolmes, Elizabeth (August 8, 2006). "Famous, Online". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on December 27, 2007. Retrieved February 24, 2023.
