What you need to know
- Spotify today announced a new Facebook mini-player.
- You'll be able to listen to full Spotify content directly in the Facebook app.
- It's rolling out today in select countries.
Spotify is launching new integration with Facebook today. The company will allow customers, both premium and free, to playback music and podcasts shared on Facebook directly in the Facebook app itself. That is to say; you won't have to leave Facebook to play Spotify content. An artist could link to an album on Facebook, your friends could share their mixes, or a club could upload a playlist, and you'd be able to interact and play directly on Facebook (once you've linked your Spotify account). Free users will have to deal with ads and shuffle mode, obviously, but that's just the price of free.
It's not going to be live globally at launch. As per the company's news release, Spotify is bringing this new experience to Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, South Africa, Thailand, Uruguay, and the U.S.
Semi-related to this, Facebook will also be launching its own in-app mini-player for podcasts specifically. The company announced as such last week, noting that listeners would be able to "listen to podcasts directly on the Facebook app — both while using the app or when the app is backgrounded." With Spotify's experience already here, Facebook, for better or worse, wants to be your next podcast app.
It's convenient for Spotify as well. The company has just raised the pricing on its streaming service by such a degree that it has made some users contemplate switching. But the level of integration Spotify offers with social media makes it more attractive than other options due to the network effect. Of course, if you just want the best music service and don't care about sharing your playlists on social media, then this isn't going to sway you at all.
Do you plan on using the new Spotify experience on Facebook? Let us know in the comments below.
