Reports are that Google is working on a cloud-based music service. Apple looks like it’s headed in the direction of a new music service with its new capability to stream music from iDisk.
And so – is Facebook next?
Curious things are in the works. According to PaidContent, the top designer at Spotify has been hired by Facebook. Looking at past developments, you can see how this may fit together.
One of the most valuable developments in cloud computing will come when we can easily sync our desktops and devices with the cloud.
You can do that now with services like Ubuntu One, the cloud storage and syncing platform from from Canonical that is powered by 7digital , the media service.
Spotify now offers a similar capability for those lucky enough to be in Europe. The service allows people to upload their iTunes libraries to Spotify.
The extension of this feature into Facebook is pretty nifty. The social feature allows friends to share playlists on Facebook.
But Facebook’s new hire gives the relationship between the two companies a new twist. Rasmus Andersson is Spotify’s chief designer. It gives credence to the speculation that Facebook is launching its own service.
And perhaps Facebook is the best to challenge the Apple hegemony over the online music world. Facebook is about sharing and gestures. As I recall from my long-ago youth, the best part of the music came down to those two factors.
If I made a tape or CD for a girl then it was a certain sign of something. Playlists serve the same function. And isn’t Facebook just one big social connector for all the teenagers and people of the younger generation?
But what this really comes to is architecture. By mastering the syncing capability, a service like Facebook arguably has the chance to do far more than Google or Apple could ever dream of. Facebook’s technology is built upon the concept of sharing and gestures. What other service can even come close to matching it in this realm?
Before we get too excited, there’s an issue that still befuddles every online music service. And that’s copyright law. Apple is in negotiations with the labels and it is believed Google has hired its own legal hotshots to barter at the music table, too.
Facebook can hire all the kick-butt designers it wants but the law may be its biggest challenge of all.
What can Facebook offer? There’s no question it has the architecture. If it can get past the legal muck then perhaps it will all fall into place for all those music-loving kids.
