Spotlight on Spotify: Facebook Integration, Radio Feature, Impact on Piracy
By Rob Scott
September 30, 2011
September 30, 2011
- Spotify has been drawing a great deal of media attention this week, more so than the growing number of other streaming music services.
- Since the company announced its partnership with Facebook at the recent F8 event, Spotify has gained more than one million new users, despite the public outcry from those who question limiting the service’s signup to Facebook users only.
- In response to concerns regarding Facebook’s media-sharing philosophy, Spotify released a new update that enables users to access the Facebook app without sharing their listening habits, reports Digital Trends. This may be good news for subscribers not happy with the recent announcement regarding Facebook integration — and could potentially serve as a model for how others offer access to services via social networking.
- In related news from The Hollywood Reporter, Spotify recently released a radio feature in the U.S. that has long been available to European users. Radio will be accessible on the desktop client, but not on the Spotify mobile app. The add-on is reportedly in no way a Pandora killer, due mainly to its lack of mobility and attention to detail.
- Additionally, Digital Trends reports that Spotify may be having a significant impact on music piracy. Illegal downloads in Sweden have reportedly dropped 25 percent since Spotify launched there in 2009. “Here in the U.S., Spotify isn’t the only option — and it may not even be the best, depending on user preference. Pandora, MOG, Rdio, Grooveshark — the list goes on,” indicates the article. “We don’t yet have numbers to show how these services are affecting music piracy in the U.S. But we’d put our money on them having a similar effect as Spotify is having in Sweden.”
2 Comments
The biggest problem with “On Demand” content, is that for some users it takes too much energy and time to find what they are looking for. Spotify should work hard to turn this radio feature into a key feature, to help users discover music.
The biggest problem with “On Demand” content, is that for some users it takes too much energy and time to find what they are looking for. Spotify should work hard to turn this radio feature into a key feature, to help users discover music.
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