Facebook and Spotify to roll out social music service

26 May 2011

Facebook is working with music-streaming service Spotify to roll out a service that will enable Facebook users to stream and share music, it emerged last night.

In a service that could prove popular with Facebook’s 600m global users and potentially threaten cloud locker services planned by Apple, Google and Amazon, it is understood Spotify is working to hammer out licensing deals with music labels.

According to reports, Facebook users outside the US could expect to see a Spotify icon appear in their news feeds as early as two weeks.

The deal will take effect in countries where Spotify has an active service, which currently excludes the US and Ireland.

The service will allow Facebook users to enjoy millions of streamed songs in the background while they network with friends.

A strategic win-win for both Facebook and Spotify

The move is an interesting one when you consider former Facebook and Napster executive Sean Parker is an investor and an adviser with Spotify.

It is understood no money will change hands but both companies will benefit. Facebook will have a quality music service and Spotify could gain potentially millions of new customers.

Spotify, which has more than 1m subscribers, is highly popular within the countries it’s available in, such as Finland, France, Norway, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the UK. It is looking to expand to the US. There is no word on when it is coming to Ireland.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com