02 Jun Music Streaming and the Social Web: A Match Made in Heaven?
A year and half ago, Twitter was the big new thing in social media. Driven by heavy publicity around celebrity take up, microblogging exploded onto the social scene. Nine months ago it was geo-location’s turn to become the pin-up of digital geeks, and it has since been Foursquare’s turn in the limelight as the social technology of the future. And now, at long last, music streaming is catching up with the social web in the form of Spotify, the cloud-based peer-to-peer music streaming service that enables unlimited streaming of music from most record labels as well as importing from local files and iTunes. So the question is: will Spotify become the new Foursquare (which is itself the new Twitter)?
The potential of social networking via music sharing is massive. Music is something common to everyone, no matter what their background. Tastes may vary according to culture, but music itself in universal. Whereas with both Foursquare and Twitter there is still a huge “I don’t get it” section of both the online and offline population, the appeal of sharing music is instantly understandable. And what’s more interesting and engaging – connecting with someone because of common musical tastes and recommendations, or connecting simply because they’re the mayor of your nearest train station? To me, there’s no competition.
Until last month I’d have said that Last.FM was most likely to make music completely social. Pole position should really have gone to MySpace Music, but where Last.FM benefits is that MySpace is too competitive with Facebook. However, where Spotify has stolen a march on Last.FM, MySpace Music, Grooveshark and the rest is with its integration with Facebook and Twitter, announced at the end of April. Though currently only still available in Europe, it is surely only a matter of time before Spotify goes global. What Spotify has done is to integrate itself with the leading players in the social media world. It has the potential to become to music sharing what YouTube is to video sharing, what Flickr is to image sharing and, perhaps, even what Facebook is to social networking.
But what opportunities does Spotify open up for marketers? It remains to be seen exactly how open Spotify becomes and how many new users Facebook integration drives, especially given its current geographic limitations (with the USA particularly in mind). But for pretty much any organisation, there’s a way of integrating music sharing. For starters, here’s just a few:
- Any club, restaurant or bar can create its own playlists of the kind of music it plays at its location, sharing with customers, encouraging subscriptions and engaging online
- Office-based businesses can involve staff in devising playlists to share with friends, colleagues and contacts, increasing teamwork and motivation, and demonstrating the personality behind the corporate mask
- Retailers and web businesses can invite clients and customers to submit their own tracks and playlists in competitions
- Social media integration means that any organisation with an active Facebook page or Twitter profile can publish music and involve fans and followers
As I’ve already said, music is universal and everyone has an opinion. If Spotify can progress what it has started and become a truly social network based on music streaming and sharing, the world really is its oyster. Beats checking in at the local supermarket anyway….
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