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Dylan Taylor lives on the East Coast and writes about technology, a subject which has captured his interest over the last few years. Aside from blogging, he’s a student and a socializer.
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Rewind to the 19th century. Commercial sheet music dominated the music industry, just like record labels dominated last year, just like the people dominate now (more on that in a moment). Back to the dark ages; after sheet music came the vinyl. Then the cassette, then the CD, then the iPod, and then Facebook.
Well technically Facebook and Spotify mixed. It’s complicated, let me explain.
Spotify initially released in the UK near the end of 2008, three years ago. The idea? Free music. It was radical, it was liberal, it was risky, and it had taken Europe by a storm within weeks of its unveiling. There are limitations, however. First, Spotify streams the song to you instead of giving you the MP3. Second, there’s ads. Ads galore, in fact, more so than on Pandora or Last.FM. Despite these setbacks, the advantages are overshadowing. Free music, obviously, is the most prominent, but that free music is broad and collected from all major record labels. The apps that distribute that music are not only efficient but they’re sexy. To top all of this off, Spotify brings something entirely new to the music industry: Social integration.
Anyways, after three years of dominating the UK market and negotiating with US labels, Spotify finally launched in the United States mid-Summer 2011.
Shortly afterwards, Facebook’s F8 event announced the fusing of Spotify into Facebook, deeming the fuse “Facebook Music”.
Facebook Music, through Spotify, lets you share your music selection, listen to your friends’ playlists, and automatically updates the Newsfeed with whatever song you’re currently listening to. Granted, they are small feats, but they are still, for several reasons, revolutionary.
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Less need for torrents, less upset labels
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A study conducted in Sweden has shown a 25% drop in illegal music downloads since 2009, and this drop is largely credited to Spotify. Record labels, especially in the US, were reluctant to sign on with Spotify. After all, no matter how many ads are played, the fact remains: People are getting their music needs without actually paying for it. But, though it took labels some time to realize this, ad revenue was earned if they signed with Spotify while absolutely no revenue was earned without it, for people would just torrent the music.
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Everyone’s access to everyone’s music
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Facebook Music has so easily put an end to the era of iTunes previews, YouTube links, and CD exchanging. Why? Everyone now has instant, free, simple, and full access to everyone else’s favorite songs. Have a lesser known song that you want to share with your friend? Just send him the Spotify link for it using Spotify’s built-in sharing buttons. Interested in your crush’s musical taste? Open Spotify and listen to their playlist.
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Power to the people
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For the first time ever, the popularity of music is no longer controlled in majority by record labels, but instead by your niche of friends and, ultimately, everyone’s niches of friends collectively. Society now has a say in who rises to fame, not a label’s budget or priorities. Society can now easily viralize music through Facebook’s massive userbase. You can now be a force in your favorite band’s success.
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