Facebook Working On a Music Platform For Bands; Not iTunes Killer, But MySpace; Apple Tieup
Facebook is working on an artist platform to be launched later this year, which in essence is supposed to be better than what MySpace allows with its platform, according to multiple sources …
Context & Ripple Effects
A day after All Facebook reported Facebook was preparing an iTunes competitor, paidContent's sourcing reframes the project: multiple sources describe an artist platform for bands, due later this year, explicitly positioned against MySpace rather than Apple's store — with a tieup with Apple itself floated as part of the plan.
Both the platform and the Apple arrangement are unconfirmed rumors at this point, but the framing matters: Facebook would be attacking MySpace where its music-page dominance lives, while leaving download sales to iTunes rather than building its own store. That VentureBeat's same-day pickup of the story sits alongside its item on Hi5 building a rival developer platform underscores how contested the social-platform land grab of late 2007 has become.
First-order effects
- Bands currently hosting their presence on MySpace gain a second major social home, with Facebook's larger mainstream audience as the pitch.
- MySpace faces direct competition for the artist pages that anchor its traffic and identity, forcing it to defend its music franchise for the first time.
Second-order effects
- If the rumored Apple tieup holds, Facebook becomes a discovery-and-promotion layer feeding iTunes purchases rather than a storefront itself — splitting the value chain between social recommendation and transaction.
- Rival networks like Hi5, already racing to match Facebook's developer platform, face pressure to add artist tools of their own or cede the musician demographic.
Third-order effects
- Social networks are positioned to become core music-industry infrastructure — A&R, promotion, and fan relationships migrating from label-controlled channels to platform owners.
- Whether Facebook builds, partners (as with the rumored Apple deal), or licenses remains unresolved, but the pattern points toward platforms treating music as an engagement category to be won, with MySpace's model as the incumbent to displace.
The trend: Social networks are expanding from profiles into artist services and music commerce, turning MySpace's musician base into contested ground between platforms.