iLike Founders Leave MySpace Executive Team
The founders of social music service iLike, which MySpace acquired last year,are leaving the company.'s executive team. Hadi Partovi will depart MySpace completely and his brother Ali will now work only in an advisory capacity.
The course change for these two popular executives well versed in social music comes at a bad time for MySpace. The social networker is working to stop ongoing traffic loss to Facebook and Twitter, and the Partovi brothers were expected to play a major role in any transformation. MySpace still controls ILike's tech platform and has benefited from its deal with Google search. iLike cofounder Nat Brown also remains at MySpace as head of Mobile.
When asked for comment on the departure, MySpace said in a statement:
"MySpace SVP of Technology Hadi Partovi is stepping down to pursue other opportunities. In addition to continuing his work as an advisor and angel investor to various startups, he will be following his passion for education by working directly with technology focused non-profits. Hadi leaves as a valued friend to the company, and we wish him the best in his future endeavors."
myspace seems cursed, its been plagued by personnel “musicall chairs” these past few years.
I like underdogs, so I’m rooting for them to get their shit together over at the house that Rupert built.
stick a fork in myspace. they lost when they started putting full page flash ads on the homepage. the site was as fast as a dinosaur in a tar pit. everyone likes a comeback story, however, the internet doesn’t allow for errors in judgment. for online: once you have the juice, you’ve got to keep it. once you lose it, you’re done. DvF has spoken.
I absolutely hate myspace, but unfortunately I still think its relevant for musicians, and still has some juice. Sure, customizing it is a nightmare, load times are long, and ads are annoying, but a band’s myspace page is almost always one of the highest ranking Google search results for them. And many people still hit up myspace to get a quick preview of a new band their friend may have mentioned or INSISTED they check out instantly. Its sometimes easier to find a band’s myspace page than their official website! It kinda sucks, but its true in some cases.
When I update a band’s Myspace page, there’s almost no reaction to the post – no comments, no click thrus.
Facebook is the complete opposite – hugely reactive, immediate response and it drives traffic too. Everyone says Myspace gets so much traffic and a band needs to be there – but honestly I see very little benefit to having your stuff up there at this point.