When Facebook announced all this at its F8 developers’ conference last week, Spotify took center stage. Its demo was a hit, and people applauded! Yay, Spotify!
But the Spotify we knew last week is a fundamentally different business from the one that exists this week for one simple reason: If you want to join Spotify now, you have sign up with your Facebook account. In simple terms, Spotify isn’t asking for access to your data anymore. It’s demanding it. No Facebook account; no Spotify. In essence, Facebook-sharing is no longer a feature for new users, it’s a requirement. It must know that for a company that traffics in what is new and popular and hip, it is taking a decidedly unpopular action. Spotify sold its cool.
Spotify says it’s made the move to promote better music discovery. That’s lame and untrue. Sure, you can help people to discover new music by forcing them to promote your app on Facebook. You can also do it by listening to a jambox turned up to full volume on a crowded bus. Both of those are pretty shitty ways of doing things. Both are forced exposure.
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