In fairness to MySpace: its brand recognition is off the charts, and it still receives traffic for which many sites’ owners would kill. But just about everyone who doesn’t work for the unit agrees that it’s declining, and now it looks like the president of MySpace Music has joined that crowd.
Peter Kafka reported this afternoon, "Myspace Music head Courtney Holt is stepping down. . . . Sources say Holt doesn’t have another post lined up. But the real news is that he was still at the site, which is a joint venture between Myspace and the major music labels."
Consider that MySpace’s traffic levels have been falling sharply for at least the past year. That’s not the sort of pattern many execs associated with their name.
Also, remember that different people at both News Corp. and MySpace have been pretty open about the possibility of a merger, spinoff, or sale due to losses. Again, not something to brag about during a job interview.
Holt may have plenty of career options, though. Kafka speculated that he might land elsewhere within News Corp., or at Spotify. Or even at Apple or Google.
Meanwhile, MySpace CEO Mike Jones is supposed to take over MySpace Music in Holt’s absence.