When asked why they have no Internet connection at home, “don’t need/not interested” represented 16.7% of those surveyed, “too expensive”  was the answer for 38.9%. And when dial-up net users were asked why they don’t upgrade to broadband,  “not interested “shrank to 7.3% and “too expensive” jumped to 41.3%.

Answers for the music industry:

One solution is certainly to support The Obama administration’s efforts to spread affordable broadband access to poorer and rural areas. But another interim strategy could be to not abandon the physical format so quickly and – just as the experts preach in the digital realm – make the product available wherever the consumer spends their time.

If Wal-Mart want to shrink thier music section, would Dollar General make space for a brave rack jobber? Or what about music pop-up stores across from arena size concerts or at the county fair?

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In many ways Miller and News Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch set this train in motion  when they hired all three executives in April of 2009.  Van Natta, the former COO of Facebook became CEO, Mike Jones, the founder and CEO of Userplane (acquired by AOL) was hired as COO and Jason Hirschhorn, the former president of SlingMedia, was brought in to be Chief Product Office. MySpace suddenly had three leaders with strong operations backgrounds and experience running their own shops.

Put all three men inside a struggling division overseen by the strong willed Miller who works for Rupert Murdoch, a man whose publicaly skeptical of the web; and its hard to imagine that they would all be left standing for long.  Van Natta was the most thoughtful and measured of the trio in an environment that does not favor such qualities making his eventual departure an almost certainty.

What’s next for MySpace?

In a joint statement, Jones and Hirschhorn towed the corporate line: “We joined MySpace last April with very a specific set of goals in mind, and are anxious to continue working together to make those goals a reality.  This business is now pointed in the right direction, and we have a great team of employees that will continue to push MySpace closer to its potential as the place where people go to be discovered and to discover great content.”

But MySpace has not articulated a clear vision of its future; and while the user numbers have stopped eroding,  Facebook and Twitter continue to soar. In fact, its hard to find a user  who prefers MySpace for anything other than a quick method of checking out new music; and that’s hardly a model for success.

“The last thing MySpace needs is any sign of management instability
whatsoever,” says eMarketer’s Debra Aho Williamson. “For months now we’ve heard about the company’s plan to refocus on its historic roots in music and entertainment. But the turnaround has been painfully slow, and this shakeup will only reinforce the perception that MySpace can’t be fixed.”

MySpace Music’s Courtney Holt remains in control of his corner of the enterprise; and seems determine to make things more user friendly for both fans and artists. But how much can he do own his own if the service in which he’s housed is rudderless? Probably not much.  If MySpace had made Holt CEO it would have sent a clear message.  But for now, at least MySpace is only sending out distress signals.

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According to an email sent to customers, on  October 9th the company will shut its servers that “that supports protected songs and albums purchased from our site”.  Unless you back up your files by burning them to CD,  you will “no longer be able to transfer your songs to other computers or access your songs after changing or reinstalling your operating system or in the event of a system crash”. (Full text of the email after the jump.)

iTunes offered an paid upgrade to mp3′s after it made the DRM-free transition and still supports the tracks it sold with DRM. Other download services like Napster and Rhapsody were forced to extend their transitions after complaints from consumers.

Full text of Walmart.com’s email:

From: Walmart Music Team
Date: Fri, Sep 26, 2008
Subject: Important Information About Your Walmart.com Digital Music Purchases

Important Information About Your Digital Music Purchases

We hope you are enjoying the increased music quality/bitrate and the improved usability of Walmart’s MP3 music downloads. We began offering MP3s in August 2007 and have offered only DRM (digital rights management) -free MP3s since February 2008. As the final stage of our transition to a full DRM-free MP3 download store, Walmart will be shutting down our digital rights management system that supports protected songs and albums purchased from our site.

If you have purchased protected WMA music files from our site prior to Feb 2008, we strongly recommend that you back up your songs by burning them to a recordable audio CD. By backing up your songs, you will be able to access them from any personal computer. This change does not impact songs or albums purchased after Feb 2008, as those are DRM-free.

Beginning October 9, we will no longer be able to assist with digital rights management issues for protected WMA files purchased from Walmart.com. If you do not back up your files before this date, you will no longer be able to transfer your songs to other computers or access your songs after changing or reinstalling your operating system or in the event of a system crash. Your music and video collections will still play on the originally authorized computer.

Thank you for using Walmart.com for music downloads. We are working hard to make our store better than ever and easier to use.

Walmart Music Team

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