Spotify climbs into bed with Facebook to its users dismay

Spotify, the European music streaming service, is facing the wrath of its users after insisting that all new accounts be created via a Facebook login. At Facebook’s F8 event last week, Spotify’s founder Daniel Ek was up on stage at Mark Zuckerberg’s side as he explained how the two services were joining forces to make sharing music easier. But it appears that Spotify’s integration with Facebook has gone further than many of its users would like. If you try to join Spotify now, the service insists that you use your Facebook log-in. If you don’t have one, you have to join Facebook before you can join Spotify. Whilst it’s common for websites to allow users to log in using Facebook, Twitter, Google or other services in order to make joining up easier, it’s unusual to force people to use a specific log-in. It’s this removal of choice that has users rebelling. [caption id=“attachment_93787” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Disgruntled Spotify users are cancelling their accounts in protest at tight integration with Facebook”]  [/caption] It seems that Spotify thought this was just a sensible next step in its development. In the second of two statements, it said:

As most of our users are already social and have already connected to Facebook, it seemed logical to integrate Spotify and Facebook logins. 

Of the other music streaming services that have hooked up with Facebook, some like MOG will require a Facebook log-in, but others won’t. Says the New York Times’ Ben Sisaro:

MOG, another digital music service included in Facebook’s new media platform, will also require new users to log in with Facebook, said David Hyman, the company’s chief executive. But Rdio and Rhapsody, two other services, did not make such changes.

Reaction across the web has been quite negative. There are a number of disgruntled users posting on Spotify’s Get Satisfaction forum, with several threads about the issue. Many users felt so strongly about the issue that they have immediately cancelled their Spotify premium accounts, posting screen grabs of their “Subscription cancelled” confirmations to make their point. There’s also some confusion as to why Spotify would do such a thing:

I really don’t understand why you are forcing people to do something against their will, people who would otherwise be happy to pay for your service. It’s quite astonishing, and I’d have to say I really hope you get a bloodied nose out of this.

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Indeed, this tight integration raises a number of questions. Spotify runs a freemium model, which means that you get a certain amount of music free before you have to upgrade to a premium account. With users being able to share their own and others’ musical choices through Facebook, what will encourage them to upgrade? With no need to go to the Spotify site, how will they move people onto the premium service? Furthermore, as Christopher Breen asks on Macworld.com, what does this mean for the music industry?

Putting aside the issue of whether this really is about “creating an amazing new world of music discovery” or the more likely matter of Spotify increasing its revenue thanks to better placement and a piece of the action, it very definitely puts Facebook in an important place in the music business. It’s now a significant music distributor and in the position to make demands of music companies as well as promote particular labels, artists, and publishers to millions of Facebook users.

There are some signs that Ek might be having second thoughts. His Twitter account was bombarded with responses from users urging him to reverse his decision and go back to an optional Facebook sign-in. Yesterday afternoon, Ek responded:

We’ll try lots of things, and probably screw up from time to time, but we value feedback and will make changes based on it.

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Which might indicate that a change of heart is possible. Spotify is risking a lot by nailing its colours so firmly to Facebook’s mast. It’s not just about user alienation, but about a serious business risk. Over the last few months, Spotify has opened in the US and has made great gains in terms of users. It’s popular enough that TechTipsGeek has a guide to accessing it in India. But now it is at Facebook’s mercy. Its freemium model is compromised and future changes at Facebook, over which it has no control, may damage its business model even further. As Rory Cellan-Jones put it:

Now, like a pilot fish attached to a great white shark, the smaller firm has entrusted its destiny to the social networking giant. It just has to hope that it can feed itself for a while - before it gets eaten.