• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, June 7, 2010

MySpace on Monday named Dmitry Shapiro as its new chief technology officer of MySpace Music.

Effective immediately, Shapiro is responsible for all aspects of technical developments for the MySpace Music platform, including the next iteration of artist profiles and tools, as well as the overall music experience on MySpace.

Without discussing specific initiatives in store for MySpace Music users, Shapiro said: "The next phase of digital music's evolution will bring artists and music lovers closer together."

Shapiro is best known as the founder and CEO of the ill-fated Web TV startup Veoh Networks. Despite the rise of online video, the backing of Michael Eisner, the support of major TV networks and video-sharing platforms, top-tier executive leadership, and millions of dollars in funding, Veoh's original backers decided to pull the plug in February. [Please note: This story has been modified to reflect the fact that Veoh did not shut down, but instead had its assets bought by Israeli social start-up Qlipso in late March and has since relaunched.]

Shapiro blamed Veoh's demise largely on a lawsuit with Universal Music over alleged copyright infringement. In February, he told MediaMemo's Peter Kafka that despite winning the lawsuit, the case "was both financially draining and distracting ... because everybody we talked to was terrified of getting sued immediately."

At MySpace, Shapiro faces different yet no less daunting challenges. In particular, the social network is still reeling from the remarkable rise of Facebook, while both companies face continued pressure over the degrees to which they protect and share user information.

Last month, The Wall Street Journal reported that Facebook, MySpace and several other social-networking sites had been sending data to ad companies that could be used to find consumers' names and other personal details -- despite promises that they don't share such information without user consent.

Responding to the story in The Journal, MySpace said in a statement: "While access to a MySpace 'FriendID' does not permit anyone access to information beyond what a user has already made publicly available, MySpace is currently implementing a methodology that will obfuscate the 'FriendID' in any URL that is passed along to advertisers."

Meanwhile, earlier this year, News Corp. reported that digital media earnings were down $32 million compared to a year earlier. Recently, eMarketer predicted that ad spending at MySpace would fall 21% this year to $385 million worldwide. Worse still, the $900 million shared ad revenue deal between MySpace and Google is scheduled to expire in August.

Attempting a comeback, MySpace in February came up with new product strategy under the slogan "Discover and be Discovered." The strategic shift came on the heels of CEO Owen Van Natta's removal, and the subsequent promotions of Mike Jones and Jason Hirschhorn to co-presidents.

Shapiro will work from MySpace's headquarters in Beverly Hills, and report directly to Courtney Holt, president of MySpace Music.

"His level of entrepreneurial spirit and passion will play an important role in evolving the future of our music platform," Holt said of Shapiro.

Prior to founding Veoh, Shapiro was the Founder and CEO of P2P network security company Akonix Systems. Before Aknoix, Shapiro led the web development for Fujitsu Business Communications Systems.