Matt Taylor has an interesting piece in the Guardian about how social networking sites such as MySpace and Bebo are breathing new life into London’s live music scene. The new energy and interest is apparently coming from underage teenagers, and even pre-teens, who go on MySpace to swap songs and talk about bands. A guy named Blaise Bellville is capitalizing on young people’s growing interest in music by setting up all-age concerts around London, where eight-year old music fanatics dance along side teenagers.

Lately, I’ve heard lots of people say that MySpace is exposing them to music they would never have heard before, and this is turning out to be a boon for independent artists. Live music promoters are getting MySpace savvy too, and this is translating into larger turnouts for live shows, especially now that younger kids are getting unprecedented exposure to music.

In the age of BitTorrent, it’s clear that live performances will account for a greater share of most artists’ income than album royalties. After all, you can’t digitally recreate a truly great live music experience—at least, not yet.