MySpacers pump up 4th season of 'Making the Band'

Even before today's launch of MTV's "Making the Band 4," diehard fans had already inundated the show's MySpace page and had an input into the cast of the show.

Series producer Sean (Diddy) Combs and MTV brought viewers into the process early by allowing them to vote on audition tapes online.

"In this day and age of being interactive, you just have to trust the voice of your fans," Combs told the New York Daily News. "I think a lot of us are using the Internet to our advantage to keep everyone engaged in the process."

And they have. Already, the show's MySpace page has more than 8,200 "friends" and plenty of comments.

"Cant wait 2 see who the guys r," writes one Web surfer.

"Making the Band," which is the second-longest running show on MTV behind "The Real World," is looking to create the next great boy band in its fourth reincarnation under Combs.

"It's definitely not following in the footsteps of Backstreet, 'N Sync, or Boyz II Men," Combs says. "It's really just a male group, and I think it will be a thing that people will respect."

In its two cycles to date under Combs' guidance, "Making the Band" has yet to churn out a group of "American Idol"-winner caliber, but Combs doesn't think that makes his proteges a failure.

"Danity Kane (the girl group created last cycle) just went platinum," Combs says. "I think that's a huge success. I'd say over 80 percent of the industry doesn't go gold or platinum on their first album. And to be honest, I think domestically, Danity Kane sold more albums than I did. One of the hardest things in the music industry is to break a new group."

And so, Combs says, he'll just keep doing his thing.

"I thought (the show) was a good idea to educate people to the realities of what it's like to be in the music industry," he says.

"For a while, I think a lot of people, especially young people, didn't know what my day job was. All they ever heard about was the parties, or who I was dating, or whatever the case was. This was a way to educate future executives, producers and artists. I also thought it would be great for television."