4 Comments »Last year I got a juicy tip that Facebook was actively interviewing executives to head up what was going to become the Facebook Music division. Since then little information has been revealed about a service and many have assumed that iLike was going to be Facebook’s only music service. With MySpace preparing to release their own music service, the topic is back in the hot seat and some are wondering if Facebook might take a shot at releasing a competing service.
Internal Conflict
From people I’ve spoken to over the past week it sounds as though there is still ongoing debate within the rankings at Facebook. There are still people at Facebook that are pushing for a Facebook Music service but unfortunately not everybody wants this to happen. For one, there is some serious political issues. Mark Zuckerberg is friends with the Partovi brothers who run the iLike service and launching a competing service would most definitely spark some tension.
The conflict still remains and no final decisions have been made. While the conversation may have been pushed aside while more important issues are resolved (such as the new Facebook redesign), a service could still emerge.
MySpace Music is the Test
Facebook is sitting on the sidelines to see how MySpace Music performs when it launches later this month. With MySpace anticipating the new service to be a competitor to iTunes, there is much hype surrounding the product and everybody is waiting to see what happens. If the service does in fact generate a substantial amount of revenue Facebook will have to seriously consider launching a competing service.
With no quick solutions to boosting the company’s revenue, selling digital products seems like a great way to get there. Given that social networks have become one of the largest centers for consumer attention online, it seems like a perfect fit. Back in June of last year Sam Huelatt posted that Facebook could be the shopping mall of the future. I agree. The metaphor of social networks as digital shopping malls makes a lot of sense.
Social networks are sites filled with passive shoppers. Now we just need the products to tempt them. Music could be one of the best fits. For now Facebook Music doesn’t appear to be an immediate offering but by no means is the Facebook Music story over.
allowing ilike like causes as a 'great apps' partner - and the official first 2 - in a way ilike = Facebook music (except last.fm)
only problem with ilike - it now a multi social network service but Facebook Music could still be Facebook Music powered by Ilike.(or last.fm - the other big gun in the music social networking)
also the pages service allows songwriters, bands/ groups to have a page and have a fan - so a Facebook Music could be a ilike and Pages in 1
I love myspace,you could say I'm a “myspace addict” but one thing that really disapoints me is there music players. They only let you put 1 song on your profile page,now I don't know about you but I write alot on my myspace so by the time your done reading everything I wrote,the songs already played like 3 times in a row. I searched around but couldn't fine any music players good enough to go on my myspace. Ethier the code didn't work or the colours were really ugly. Than I heard about this free site called “www.hypster.com”! It's easy to make an account and add music to your playlists. You can upload your own or take from other users playlists. Not only that but, you can customize your music player to fit your profile colours! So check it out you won't regret it! http://www.hypster.com
Free Myspace musicâ€
First off, this is a great blog and I'm an avid reader.
However, I am getting really annoyed with the constant posts all over the blogosphere about how Facebook should 'take control' and launch their own music service, up against the hugely successful music community/application iLike.
We already know that Facebook is developing a payments system. This will allow any application to sell ANYTHING (a real shopping mall, with unlimited shops) and Facebook will get a cut. This includes music, digital items, real items. This will make them a lot of money. And they won't have to disrupt their core focus (being a social platform), or seriously piss off one of their biggest application partners. They also avoid scaring off the prospect of any serious VC money going to social app developers (instead, by placing their trust in developers to create and sell the content, whilst providing an easy monetisation route, they'll encourage investment).
Myspace Music looks great, however, right now I'm using http://www.deezer.com/en and it's AWESOME! A huge catalogue, a great interface, and quite good focuses on emerging artists! Great!