At a time when indie artists are looking for design improvements, a better music player, the ability to embed tour information and more, MySpace has been caught up in shmoozing the Big 4 to solidify its “we’re the biggest” bragging rights. It relegated the very people who grew the site, the indie artists and labels,  to being widgets in a stats-for-sale corporate come-on. The economy is not responsible for MySpace’s reprehensible back-turning.

That said, I’ll be the first to acknowledge MySpace’s role in helping indie artists and labels increase their online visibility.  It will remain an historic icon for doing so. But, to let non-music “buddy bandwidth” sites get the edge they’re getting, not just in terms of visitors  (Facebook surpassed MySpace in total unique visitors last month) but  in their exploration of the latest entertainment-related technological advances and marketing strategies to diversify their offerings and grab more music-based market share, underscores how MySpace has not only been asleep at the wheel but it’s been driving under the influence of self-intoxication.

Let me extend my heartfelt empathy to anyone who’s lost their job in this souring economy. It’s tough to be out of work when the bills come in, not to mention the psychological impact of shattered career-based self-identity and self-worth. Good luck with your new job quests and peace of mind to you. To those still there, don’t  duck your heads and get water boarded by the next wave. The tragedy of the recent layoffs is that the first wave was a surprise to so many.

While recognizing that MySpace has certainly written itself into social networking history, the reality is that it has not aggressively competed with Facebook and Twitter nor has it been creative in offseting overall declining ad revs to sustain itself. Out of desperation we may even see it take on a Semelian approach to surviving. DeWolfe still resinates at MySpace even after his departure in the continued lack of an applicable vision perpetuated by a bell curve of uninspired middle-to-upper  managers doling out the ’see ya later’ boxes.