UPDATED 11:49 EST / MAY 26 2011

Facebook. Music. Spotify. Can It Really Be?

Social networking giant Facebook is fulfilling one of its lifelong dreams: to launch a music service, as it today announced a partnership with Spotify. Sources close to the deal said it could roll out in a week or two. Facebook already had a music service before which Sean Parker bumped off, saying it’s still too early for such technology.

Tapping Spotify will automatically install the service on the device, placing an icon on the desktop background as gateway to Spotify’s millions of songs via Facebook. It will also feature a functionality that’s gonna let Facebook users listen with their friends without leaving the website. This is an effort to make Facebook a one-stop spot for social networking, movie rental and music streaming. The music service is quite similar to that of Facebook Connect where users can see what their friends are listening to and can choose which kinds of music can show on their feeds.

Spotify will launch in places which it already has a presence. It’s currently it talks with huge music labels in the US so it can launch in the country as well. Despite all the speculation, Spotify’s spokesperson still claims that this kind of negotiation is beyond his knowledge.

“We have a Facebook integration. We’re continuously working with them to make that as good as it can be. But that’s the extent of our relationship.” Spotify’s co-founder Daniel Ek did not wish to comment.

The deal sounds beneficial for both parties. As for Facebook, it has been their vision to have a music service of their own. It even made an effort to negotiate with Last.FM back in 2008. On the other hand, Spotify will reach more users and will have more potential subscribers for their premium service, which costs 10 pounds per month in the UK and 10 euros in the rest of Europe, including France, Spain and the Netherlands. It has always been the company’s contest to get more money via advertisement and subscriptions in order to poise itself in front of royalty-streaming payments and huge music labels including Sony BMG, Universal Music, Warner Music and EMI.

Spotify hopes to leverage with the social networking giant the same way Zynga did. Zynga is the most popular social game on Facebook that’s now worth $10 billion. It’s currently prepping for an IPO.

Facebook and Spotify shares billionaire Li Ka SHing, Yuri Milner and Sean Parker as investors. Yuri Milner owns 10 percent of Facebook, as well as Facebook’s founding president and Napster founder Sean parker takings its place on Spotify’s board.

Aside from Facebook, Google has also launched a beta music service called Music Beta, a cloud-based digital locker that allows Googlers to store and stream their favorite music to the PC or mobile Android device. There’s also Apple, which is working on deals with record labels to access a couple of thousand more songs to battle Google and Amazon cloud music.


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