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 MySpace was always the place for unsigned bands to showcase their tunes, but now it has a rival. As suspected, Facebook has been working on a music service to give bands and labels a way to post and sell their own music and music-related items.
FaceBook has entered the music fray, adding music functionality complete with links to iTunes. The new music section is set to compete with rival social network MySpace’s already well established section for musicians by creating a dedicated artist homepage that can be populated with full-length music tracks and videos.
“The addition of music purchase capability is an intriguing twist that could give FaceBook an edge, at least temporarily.”
Much like MySpace and music-only networks like Trig, pages on the new Facebook Music, which launched Thursday, are free to create, and include sections for musicians to create a profile for themselves or their bands, photos/videos, discography, selling band merchandise (MusicShop) and an iCast feature that lets bands post bulletins to their fans’ profile pages.
Artists who decide to take advantage of the free service can employ a host of Facebook and third-party applications on their profile to carry out all sorts of promotional tasks, from sending news updates out to selling tickets and merchandise.
“Facebook Music lets fans rate and review songs, which stream in their entirety and can be purchased with a click from the iTunes Store.”
Thanks to a deal with Apple there is also the option to include a direct link on the page that will enable users to buy songs featured on the Facebook page from the iTunes music store.
The launch is long overdue, and makes loads of sense for bands and for Facebook, but it would be nice if the music is in the un-DRMed MP3 format. Ideally, fans would be able to embed songs in their own profile pages.
“You can embed an entire band in your Facebook Mini-Feed, but not individual songs.”
100 artists have already set-up Facebook profiles to help launch the service, the first draft includes Coldplay, the Dave Matthews Band, Cee-Lo, Gnarls Barkley, and The Decemberists.
Facebook visitors can become fans of their chosen artists, rate and review their music and can choose to receive messages from acts.
It is the new features of FaceBook foray into music that make it unique. Not only that, FaceBook has hooked up with Music Today to offer tickets to their concerts and merchandise. That kind of usability is what other social music networks and sub networks have been missing all along.
It will be interesting to see how FaceBook’s innovation in this arena changes other social networks approach to music. MySpace had an inline music player and the ability to grab lyrics and some songs if the band approved, but no real way for the band to sell merchandise, tickets and music and make real money. That ability changes the game for both the music lover and the musician.
Sure, serious musicians have websites that link to these things, but most music lovers are already on at least one social network, many more, and this will bring one stop shopping to their music and social experience.
Facebook’s move could come as a setback for the various companies that have been putting music on Facebook using Facebook apps, because the main thing they have going for them now is that they let users post music (even 30-second samples) to their profiles.
And to make profile pages more interesting for fans, Facebook has introduced an array of applications bands can use.
These include tools for the creation of unique Facebook pages; a Flash Player; a Music Player; a Discography tool, a Music Shop and a bulletin sending software tool called iCast.
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