Facebook To Launch Music Service With Spotify. Amidst Spotify Rumors, Facebook CEO Talks Music & Media Tech News and Analysis. As rumors of a pending Facebook/Spotify deal swirled, Mark Zuckerberg took the stage at the e-G8 Forum in Paris Wednesday and reasserted that he has no plans to become the CEO of an entertainment company.
“We don’t have the DNA to be a music company or a movie company,” Zuckerberg said in an onstage one-on-one with Publicis CEO Maurice Lévy. The comments come just as Facebook is reported to have deepened its partnership with Sweden-based startup Spotify to roll out a more fully integrated music-streaming service within the social networking site, according to a Forbes report published Wednesday citing anonymous sources. The report claims the feature will be called either “Facebook Music” or “Spotify on Facebook.” The new service will reportedly not be available in the United States, as Spotify has not yet cleared regulations to be used in the U.S. However, a source familiar with Spotify denied the deeper integration when reached by GigaOM. Chill Out! Spotify on Facebook Is Cool, Not a Game Changer. Are Facebook and Spotify linking up? Entirely possible. But before we get too excited about the prospect, here’s what a Facebook/Spotify pact would likely look like: Instead of using Spotify’s software to play music, Facebook users could access Spotify from a Facebook Web page and listen to some music for free.
And here’s what a Facebook/Spotify pact likely wouldn’t look like: Unlimited free music for Facebook users. In other words, if Facebook and Spotify do deepen their relationship, it will be a nice feature for Facebook and a nice promotional outlet for Spotify. And if Spotify CEO Daniel Ek (pictured at right) ever does open for business in the U.S., it’d be a good way to introduce Americans to his service. But it will still be the same service: A limited amount of free music, and the option to upgrade to a paid subscription.
Or put it another way: Let’s say Rdio linked up with Skype to promote its streaming music service, a not-unlikely scenario. Right. No Spotify Inside Facebook, Two Record Labels Still Needed For US Launch. There has been some interesting speculation regarding the relationship between hot (at least in Europe) music streaming service Spotify and gargantuan social platform Facebook. Now Forbes is reporting that Facebook has partnered with Spotify on a streaming service that “could be launched in as little as two weeks” via a Spotify icon in a user’s newsfeed. However, our sources are pouring ice cold water on the idea. The reasons are thus: Even through Spotify is doing very well on its home turf of Sweden… and has launched in Finland, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and the UK – it has yet to launch in the US.
And a launch in the next two weeks looks highly optimistic. Our sources say the reason is that Spotify has in fact secured two big unnamed record labels – but needs two more labels to come on board before it can launch in the US. But it is a long way from saying Spotify is going to deeply integrate with Facebook. So, there you have it. Revealed: Facebook’s music plans involve Spotify, others. For the past few months, I have been hearing about Facebook and Spotify getting a lot closer as companies, with a much tighter integration between the two services. However, Facebook’s musical ambitions go beyond Spotify and include other music services and applications. The company is currently working on lining up more partners for the 2011 edition of f8, its annual developer conference, which is most likely to be held in August 2011. It seems that Facebook, after consolidating its position in three major Internet sectors – retailing, news and games – is now getting serious about music and media.
At The Cable Show held recently in Chicago, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts extolled the values of cloud-based services and explained why cloud-based guides and interfaces are going to be key to television’s future. He showed off a deep integration with Facebook that can make television more social with recommendations from your social graph.
Facebook Music Features Music Equals Social Commerce. Music will be a tough payoff for Facebook.