Over the past year and a half, rumors of Facebook music have come and gone. We even had sources previously report to us about an executive search going on for an individual to run the Facebook music arm. Today the New York Post is reporting that in the wake of MySpace Music launching last month, Mark Zuckerberg has stated plans to enter into the online music business.
While details are sketchy at this point, apparently Zuckerberg is talking to existing song-streaming services including iLike, Rhapsody, imeem, and Lala about outsourcing their music service. They aren’t keeping any options off the table and are talking directly with “major record companies about the strategy.” Apparently they don’t want to deal with “securing their own licenses to distribute music, or building a proprietary service from scratch” though.
Nothing is imminent though and based on source that I spoke with last month, while Facebook continues to talk with music executives there is still internal conflict at the company about any new music service. Does talk of a music service mean that a launch is guaranteed? Not at all and just as the New York Post reports, “Facebook may ultimately walk away from the plan altogether”.
Ultimately I’m not sure that Facebook’s activities are a direct response to the launch of MySpace Music as I’ve been hearing these rumors for at least a couple months. The Post claims that “the concept is believed to have peaked” though “now that MySpace is live with its service”. The future of a Facebook music service still seems unclear at this point, but you can never give up a good opportunity to speculate about future plans!
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Very interesting indeed. Music (through the promotion and distribution of unsigned material in particular) has clearly been such a huge component of MySpace's success from the beginning, you have to wonder why Facebook hasn't gotten into the game sooner.
Comment by Jamie Scheu — October 17, 2008 @ 4:38 am
I don't know why they'd be talking to iLike, as their service goes through Rhapsody. Honestly, iMeem is probably the best provider, but given that they're a really close competitor to Facebook, I don't know if we'd see that happen.
Comment by andrewwise — October 17, 2008 @ 7:08 am
I would love to see a music service on Facebook
Comment by spuds — October 19, 2008 @ 10:45 pm
Is there a way I can load my audio to Facebook? I have several recordings.
Comment by Ben Smith — August 24, 2010 @ 2:49 pm