Music

With news feed updates poised to surge as users enable new open graph actions, Facebook has begun grouping together activities within the same application.

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Facebook cited a non-URL-related policy violation for its removal of the Video Calling app from Samuday Web Technologies in April.

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Facebook Music may have taken yet another setback. According to TechCrunch, more details may have arisen regarding the deal (or lack thereof) that Facebook was trying to work out with a number of music companies as options for offering a Facebook Music app direct to its users.

We covered the rumor that Lala may be the runner-up for landing a music partnership with Facebook, and I then noted that its smaller size may be a benefit for teaming with the large social network. It benefits Facebook and could be a more economic route for both parties involved. But maybe not so beneficial for the music companies, which includes lone hold-out Warner.
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Well, Yahoo! has thrown their proverbial hat into the Facebook application ring and I have to hand it to them, their new app is highly addictive. Using Yahoo! Music Blog makes me feel like a kid in a candy store. The premise is simple, yet brilliant. The application scours the best indie blogs and pulls the MP3s into the player, allowing users to listen to full songs, add them to their favorites and share them with friends.

The most impressive aspect of the application is how polished it is. While there are occasional problems, such as loading a blog with no current songs listed, even the error message is in keeping with the indie vibe. When faced with such an error, a pleasant and soothing female voice announces: “That request cannot be processed, please try again” and you can’t even get upset about the bug. Well played, Yahoo!

Another aspect of the application that makes it so addictive is how simple the design and functionality are. There are 4 tabs, Recommended, Popular, Recently Viewed and My Favorites. There is a subtle fade out and fade in when switching between songs or music blogs, and the entire user experience is a very smooth and elegant.

If you want to spend hours discovering new music, go grab the Yahoo! Music Blogs application.

I previously wrote about Facebook launching a music service. A couple days ago the rumor resurfaced that Facebook would be announcing the music service at the AdTech conference in addition to announcing their new ad network. According to Wired, the rumor has been confirmed by a Warner Bros. Records executive who posted on his blog that he is looking for Facebook application developer immediately.

From someone that has experience in developing Facebook applications for large clients I can support Ethan’s argument that he’d “be really surprised if the technology head of a major label wanted to hire a Facebook programmer for a quick, rush job.” That Facebook plans on making two massive announcements next week it a strike back at all the buzz that Google is generating from OpenSocial.

Whether or not this will help quell the buzz, Facebook and Google are now battling in the same ring, fighting to dominate the social space. In addition to competing with MySpace music, according to the Wired article, Facebook will be competing with iTunes by enabling “music sales widgets that would compete with iTunes by letting bands sell music directly from their Facebook pages, the way they already can on MySpace.” Facebook is opening up new battles on multiple fronts. It will be interesting to see if they can hold expand in multiple directions.

If use the iTunes player for listening to music then you know how the application has a really great user interface. Girard Kelly, one of the developers of the iTunes.fm application sent me a message about their application. I’m glad I checked it out. This application has to be the slickest twist to the original audio application. This morning I discussed the new Audio application. The Intune.fm application takes the new Audio application one step further by enabling the sharing of music among your friends. Ultimately, the Intune.fm application has duplicated most of the iTunes application feature set.

Honestly, this is one of the best music applications that I have used. The only downside to the application is that there were some buffering issues when I tried to play songs. Aside from that, this application is awesome! If you want to use a web based duplicate of the iTunes application, go grab the inTune.fm application.

While Numair Faraz, the orignial developer of the Audio application, has not returned, Jake Jarvis has decided to revive the idea. The only difference this time is that it is legal. Rather than providing a searchable and browsable directory of uploaded songs, Jake has decided to enable users to display their own music on their profile. All you need to do is upload your song through the application and it is immediately accessible from your profile.

Jake is covering all the storage, you provide the tunes. So how is the application doing? Not to shabby but nothing to brag about. The main problem is that the illegitimate brother of this application, Audibie (which I featured in my list of top 25 Facebook applications), provides all the same functionality as the original application. Given high school and college students’ history of downloading illegal songs, I seriously doubt that they are going to go the legitimate route. I could be wrong though!

The ironic part of this application is that the song must be DRM free. While iTunes provides some DRM free tracks, they are still selling a large portion of their songs with DRM encryption. If you do have DRM free tracks (that you legitimately or illegally acquired) you can upload them to this application. If you want to take the safe route and legally play music on your profile, go check out the new Audio application.

Apparently the “rumor” that I started yesterday has some legs to the story. According to Rafat Ali, Facebook is launching an artist platform. While I feel no need to reveal my source, the bottom line is that Facebook is entering the music market. According to Rafit, Facebook actually has an agreement with iTunes on this platform.

This is something Facebook should have launched long ago but at least they are finally going to launch it. I’m excited to hear more information about the future of this service but at least we know that they are looking to launch. Additionally, they have been looking for someone to lead this department, as I suggested yesterday.

iLike has just announced a new service for musicians that enables them to create a band page that is displayed on both the iLike website as well as Facebook. According to the iLike artist services page, iLike currently has over 11 million users and is growing at over 500,000 users a month. iLike argues that their new service makes it easier to gain fans than on MySpace. That’s a pretty bold statement given that music is one of MySpace’s most used features.

This new service competes directly with Reverb Nation’s My Band application. The MyBand application has been growing steadily over the past few months and it continues to grow. Currently they have close to 5,000 active daily users. While the new service requires you to register at the iLike website, this tool appears to be extremely valuable for musicians. As has been happening over the past few years on the open web, competition for independent musicians on Facebook is going to continue to grow rapidly.

Perhaps Facebook will join the competition if my sources are correct. It will be interesting to watch this all pan out. If you are an independent musician or help musicians promote themselves, go check out the new iLike artist services.

An extremely reliable anonymous source has informed me about Facebook launching an iTunes competitor within their company. Over the past months Facebook has been searching for a CEO to head up this new subdivision. Facebook has been pursuing agreements with a number of record labels. The target market was supposedly college students but unfortunately details are limited.

One thing is for sure though. If Facbook decides to launch an iTunes competitor the existing music applications on the platform are not going to be happy (unless of course they are granted permission to become a lead generation tool for Facebook). This may be a little late on the timing though if downloadable music is eventually going to become free. Regardless, Facebook has been working on this project for many months now. I heard rumors of this back in March but none had been substantiated.

My most recent informant knows one of the people being interviewed for the position. The only thing under question at this point is how are they going to integrate this properly. Also, is this a tangent to their primary business model? Would you buy music from Facebook?