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.