For the longest time I’ve complained that Facebook should make it possible to share MP3 files on the site, without requiring users to upload the files. By simply providing a player for linked files, they can make the users responsible for any MP3 they link to. This evening I noticed that one of my friends had shared an MP3 in their feed, and now it appears that anytime you link to an MP3 you can enter the song title, artist, and album, and it will be playable from within the feed.
The one downside of this new feature is that numerous sites prevent others from hotlinking to MP3s hosted on their site. The primary reason is that it ends up using a ton of bandwidth. So for all those hype machine songs you were looking to share, you may have to host the songs yourself, as many of the songs are hosted on file sharing sites that prevent hot linking.
There are plenty of blogs that host their own MP3s however and now users can instantly share the music from within Facebook without having to install any form of third party application. While we haven’t been able to figure out how to browse through the other MP3s that we’ve shared, Facebook could theoretically expand this feature into a broad “Audio” application. We first saw signs of a Facebook Audio product back in September, but this is the first time we’ve been able to share music directly from our profile.
We’ve reached out to Facebook for more information on this service and will update the post when we hear something back. If you can’t figure out how to use the product, simply share a link from your profile and make sure the link ends in “.mp3″.
Update
One commenter has suggested this isn’t new. Perhaps I’ll go ahead and switch the title to “How To Share Music On Facebook”! I’m waiting to hear back from Facebook for more information. Also, the last “Facebook Audio” product we discussed for Facebook Pages has been available for a couple years. We simply thought this was a new implementation for users but apparently not! Have you used this feature before or is this new to you?
I don’t mean to bust your chops Nick, but Facebook has done this for a REALLY long time. A REALLY REALLY long time. I don’t remember a time where it didn’t.
You just post them as a link. I’ve been doing it for maybe a year at least.
As a follow up comment, Twitter Also details for websites how to set up the an Audio (the music player) preview for their website on the share page: http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Facebook_Share/Specifying_Meta_Tags
I use it frequently. I remember when I “discovered” it I thought it was very cool as well.
Yup, this is really old
“Have you used this feature before or is this new to you?”
I used it quiet often.
Oh, BTW, you can do it on Google Buzz as well
http://www.google.com/buzz/zoolcar9/QRNpR7NXMsD/
Since at least November of 2009. See twitpic: http://twitpic.com/19a2db
I just knew this feature.but then I’ll try it.
This has been around since probably 2006 at the latest, maybe before. It SEEMS new because, well, it doesn’t always work right…
You guys should write about winamp next.
Yep, definitely change the title, Nick. I remember this feature for as long as I have used Facebook (which is for at least 3 years)
Just checked, and I have an mp3 I shared over 13 months ago. Definitely not a new feature.
Post fail.
like
Sharing music on Facebook is a great feature. I continually share all sorts of media with my network, and have shared mp3s for quite a while… Your point RE: bandwidth is a good one, because some folks might not realize.
Hmmmm…
Wasn’t aware of it, thanks!
yeah, i noticed it a couple of days ago when i shared an mp3 with some people, very cool!
Hi Nick,
http://www.allfacebook.com/2009/09/facebook-audio-product/#comment-42164
As mentioned in the comments on your September post, the Vitrue SRM has been publishing audio to the Wall for over a year. Our tools gives Facebook marketers the ability to customize the meta tags, redirect the click-through to any destination, schedule the post and then reports real-time clicks, play counts and share counts. (We also publish images, videos, coupons, polls and other apps that engage fans right in the wall/news feed).
Mike Strutton
Chief Product Officer
Vitrue, Inc.
http://Vitrue.com
This is not a new feature. I have used this feature for my sites before.(about 1 year ago) This could be done by entering mp3 url. Also you dont need to link an mp3 file. This can also be a webpage. Like http://www.xxx.com/music/sample.html But this url should contain some meta data information.
http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Facebook_Share/Specifying_Meta_Tags
como puedo volver a instalar una canción del mago de oz,
con la aplicación http/apps.facebook.com/My_song.
There is also the legal aspect. I searched the Facebook page and found this information:
“The process to upload music using the Facebook Music Player application has changed.
In order to upload music to your Page using this application, you will need to provide an electronic signature to an agreement that confirms that you either own the copyright to the content you will be uploading or that you are authorized by the copyright owner to upload that copyrighted content to your Page.
In order to access this agreement, please attempt to upload a song through the Facebook Music Player application.”
I have shared two music videos (directly linked from the band’s FB page) on my profile because the band has allowed this featured and the fact that they are no longer under their previous label’s contract (now owning their own work). Other than that, I may not do anything else at this time.
Weird, this page is the only piece of information I’ve been able to find on that matter…
Thing is I’ve been unable to use the inline mp3 player since yesterday, now when I post a link to an mp3 file it shows up as a regular link (and believe me, people don’t bother downloading, so it’s pretty much useless). Anyone else noticed this problem/bug ?
Or is there something I did wrong (mp3 format, id3 tags) ? I doubt so because links that showed up as the inline player a week ago will show up as normal links if I try and post them again… Weird.
teo … i’ve found the same problem. I’ve been linking my podcasts for a year and today the player is not working. Interesting is that older podcasts are still working with a player, but can’t add new ones. There must have been a code change that we can’t find publicized anywhere yet.