One of the most over-rated and over-hyped jobs in the digital music industry has finally been filled: After weeks and months of drib-drab leaks where it felt like negotiating the contract of the MySpace Music head was more complex and important than renewing the contract for Peter Chernin, MTV executive Courtney Holt has officially been named as president of MySpace Music. Holt, who previously worked at MTV Networks (NYSE: VIA) as EVP of digital music for the Music & Logo Group, was considered the leading candidate for the past several weeks. A few months ago we mentioned that former MTV exec Andy Schuon and former Facebook chief revenue officer Owen Van Natta were previously among the likeliest to be hired for the spot, which MySpace Music had been looking to fill since late spring.
Holt will now head up MySpace's new joint venture with the four major record labels, coordinating internal strategy at MySpace with executives at Universal, Sony, Warner and EMI. Beginning his new gig January 5, he'll also work with MySpace co-founder and CEO Chris DeWolfe. Before his stint at MTV, Holt was SVP of new media at Interscope Geffen A&M. Release.
Now comes the hard part: the triple whammy of trying to monetize a generalist social network, in the beleaguered music industry, in this calamity of an economy. No pressure, Courtney…
Update: The next guessing game: who will succeed Holt at MTVN or will that role even be filled? It could be time for another round of MTV Musical Chairs. Network president Van Toffler told his staff via e-mail that he and Holt "are working on the transition plan and I will be communicating more details very soon." TechCrunch has the memo.
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