Yes, very beneficial. At TwickFolk we use our MySpace site to preview music from our upcoming guests.

Easy to update for folks in a hurry (or lacking in technical skills)

One thing I would say though. If musicians are using MySpace as a calling card they'd better make sure they're good enough and that they're targetting the right places. It shouldn't be seen as a swift 'in-door' for the incompetant. It can lead to a lot of slammed doors in faces. I've lost count of the number of time-wasters sending awfully unsubtle and presumptuous messages about gigs along the lines of "How do I book your venue?" or "Please get back to me with a list of your avails" etc. You still need to know how to market yourself effectively if you're going to be successful.

Another thought. This is crucial. Keep your MySpace page simple and uncluttered. A simple backdrop that it's easy to read the print over. Less is more. Don't fill it up with hundreds of angry diatribes, 'YouTube' screens, soapboxes etc some of which you first put on there years ago. Even if you're preaching to a sympathetic audience people simply haven't got the time or inclination to scroll through reams and reams of info to find the one thing that might have been recently added that might be of interest to them. Nor to wait for several minutes while your front page loads up.

MySpace.com/TwickFolk