Only two days in, and I can tell that facebook’s integration of music partners has changed music forever. While there are lots of amazing wow features in the new facebook product, the feed of one click streaming links to spotify, mog, and slacker, all made me happy immediately. My first few clicks took me to new music and and forgotten favorites with ease. The ticker is a new starting point for music, triggering new ways of browsing the unlimited library in the cloud. Heres are three shifts in music to watch as adoptions rises:
VOLUME GOES UP
Adding a real time, one click stream of music from people I am connected with, increases the volume of choices with no friction. So far, I think the new integration creates not just more, but more GOOD choices than ever. Using people as my editors seems to be working. Can I forget about any outside promotions or having to comb blogs, or check in whats new on pop radio? I know the people who do that in my feed, so that’s baked into their choices, they are my filter on filters. I can just stick to my feed. If volume and quality goes up, value returns. CD’s increased volume in terms of amount of music per container, but net quality went down.
FLASH GENERE
A link to a Slacker station led me to an old favorite Rod Stewart song from eighties. For some reason I hadn’t heard this song in years. This sent me into a day of genre surfing through 80’s hits, and thats where I lived for the day. Not the album the Rod Stewart song came from, the Slacker station itself, or even Rod Stewart in general. How did my day of 80’s music surfing flow through other feeds and change peoples musical map for the day? We don’t know yet, but I’m betting that music moves in bigger chunks now that were connected to it all. Artist catalog’s and entire genres will wash over you. When I lock into a genre surfing session, if it takes a few days to explore, I’m stuck in there, and everything else from the outside world is on hold. The access model makes it easier to consume bigger chunks in shorter times. In my youth it was 6 years before I’d heard every Pink floyd album! Now its a weekend.
NEED FOR COMPATIBLE LINKS
The only time it all seems broken is when I navigate things coming in from services I don’t use or pay for. Id like a universal connector, something that grows the positive experience Facebook started, and the pool of revenue for everyone. Lets also choose on a universal song rating system on the open graph, that can travel too, so if I do move to new services, my ratings go with me via facebook.
Try my feed on Facebook /jeremywelt
