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2011

SUBSCRIBED MUSIC MIGHT FLOW IN FACEBOOK

September 6, 2011 0

Music might flow in Facebook too as the social networking giant is working on bolstering their programming tools so that there would be access to licensed music services such as Rdio, MOG, Spotify and Rhapsody. This additional service would let the users know which song is being hummed by their friends via Facebook. The outsourcing of music services on Facebook can be confirmed as Facebook has not struck any deal with major music companies to have access to the licensing of music records. So, one would not see Facebook’s unique music service via this tool.

This tool would still be another reason for Facebook users to stick around this social networking site. The subscription music plans could become much more attractive as one would know which music their friends are listening to. $10 a month is the cost set for unlimited listening, which has a list of millions of old and new songs which are offered on mobile devices. However, the declining CD sales and the revenue which could have been received from them are yet to be gained out of this form of subscription. The developer conference of Facebook which is to be held in San Francisco might see the revelation of the specific set of tools. The conference is called f8 and it would be on September 22. the information was detailed by a person who was not authorized to publicly comment on the matter and therefore declined to be named.

Facebook’s spokesperson Larry Wu however said there there was no new news which Facebook intended to announce. He stated that around the world most of the highly popular music services have been integrated with Facebook. They are just working on improving those integrations with their partners.

Talking about the partners, recently subscription leader Rhapsody had a launch of its beta version wherein they had integrated the service using Facebook’s sign-in tool, Facebook Connect. This would give an access to a Rhapsody customer to ‘like’ an artiste or song. Once they have a like on an artist or song, there would be a post related to it in the news feed of one’s Facebook homepage. The artists which are liked get synced across both the services. The Rhapsody subscribers even get access to listening to those songs which are liked by their friends on Facebook.

The only problem is that there is no option provided for one to know as to currently which song is being heard by one’s friend. Again there is no provision for letting a Facebook friend to listen simultaneously to what a Rhapsody user is playing in real time. Spokesperson for Rhapsody, Jaimee Steele said that Rhapsody is “definitely interested” in coming up with an improvement in their Facebook tools. She continued saying, “We think that music is a very social experience and we are always looking at ways to enhance that experience.”

Spotify, Swedish new entrant on its part has an option for allowing one’s Facebook friends to access the playlist which has been opted by a user to share. On the other hand, Rdio has a provision for allowing people to connect via Facebook and to follow other users of Rdio ans to know which albums have been heard most by the users.

For the commenting, MOG spokesperson Marni Greenberg and Rdio CEO Drew Larner declined to comment.

The move opted for by Facebook via the new tool can be an incremental step to get people to pay for music even though the social networking giant would not get anything out of it directly.

Historically, the unlimited song listening subscription plans have not been an answer to pose a reversal for the slide one notices in CD sales. This assumed integration can have its effect on the reversal program as Facebook has been much more popular as compared to any other music service provider. The platform is a bigger and better one for the reversal too.

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