GigaOm , the blog confirmed that Facebook is expected to make its partnership with Spotify and other music services at the social network’s F8 Conference, which is likely to be held in August.
“Currently in the testing phase, when launched the integrated service will appear in the Facebook users’ homepage as a Spotify icon on the left side of their newsfeed, along with the usual icons for photos and events,” reports Forbes.
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The report elabortes, “Clicking on the Spotify icon will install the service on their desktop in the background, and also allow users to play from Spotify’s library of millions of songs through Facebook. The service will include a function that lets Facebook users listen to music simultaneously with their friends over the social network.”
The new service is yet to be christened. Whether it will be called ‘Facebook Music’ or ‘Spotify Music’ will make no difference to its availability. The soon-to-be launched service will be available only for Facebook users in countries where Spotify has a presence, excluding the all-important United States.
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However, all is not lost for music loving Facebook users in the United States. Sean Parker, the founder of Napster, who is on the board of Spotify, said that a US launch for Spotify was “very close”.
Forbes reports that Spotify’s recent negotiations with music labels about bringing its streaming service to the U.S.has met with some success and talks are still ongoing. Once completed Facebook’s Spotify will be launched in the States too.
Intriguingly, there seems to be a lack of confirmation from Spotify on this alliance. The Telegraph reports,“A Spotify spokesperson told Forbes that the company already works with Facebook but doesn’t have plans to extend its relationship.”
Spotify already has Facebook Connect integrated into its own desktop interface, allowing users to see what their friends on Facebook are listening to, and opt to have music choices show up on their news feeds. The new service on the Facebook platform will have similar social features.
Yet, both the players seem to be shying away from committing. On June, 20 News.cnet.com stated, “Neither Facebook nor Spotify immediately responded to request for comment on the social network’s possible music integration.”
Yahoo news states,“The bottom line is, no official announcement has been made yet by either company. However, in the event of a launch, though no money is changing hands, both companies will be winners. The social network would get a music service thereby giving users one less reason to plod off to other parts of the Internet in search of content, while Spotify would gain access to millions more users – which could then lead to more revenue through sign-ups to its premium service.
Facebook’s ability to stream music will also fulfil a long-held dream of Mark Zuckerburg, who was working on a music streaming service around the same time he wasSpark messenger/ first developing Facebook in the dorm rooms of Harvard. Zuckerberg, who has publicly professed his admiration for Spotify, launched a peer-to-peer file-sharing service called Wire Hog in 2004, which was designed to sit on top of Facebook like a software application. Allegedly, Sean Parker killed the service, in the belief that the thought was ahead of its time.