Facebook just got a whole lot friendlier for music artists. With the launch of Facebook Ads, it is welcoming bands and musicians to set up their own public Facebook pages where members can sign up as fans. Alas, there will be no standalone Facebook Music service. Instead, Facebook is treating music artists just like any other brands, which can also set up their own Facebook pages, collect fans, and market to them directly.
Yet, when it comes to music artists, one of Facebook’s most popular application developers, iLike, is doing the exact same thing. Already, any band or musician can create an iLike artist page on Facebook that includes their most popular songs (filtered by what your friends like), upcoming concert dates (click on a date and see if any of your friends are going), an artist blog called iCast, related artists, and a Fan Wall where Facebook members can leave notes. In fact, half-a-million have done so. And starting today, iLike will create duplicate versions of these marketing pages for them that work with Facebook’s new brand destination pages. Right out of the gate, iLike will generate 160,000 pre-populated artists pages that the musicians or the labels themselves can modify, or leave as is.
So if you are a music artist, you now have to make a decision: Do you go with the iLike page as your main Facebook page (and take advantage of the nearly 10 million members who use the iLike app), or do you go with your own advertiser page on Facebook? Case in point: the new Facebook page for 50 Cent (shown left) had only three fans when it first went up just after midnight, compared to 1.2 million fans on his iLike page on Facebook.
Well, it turns out that iLike does not care which page artists choose to call their home. Any widget on the iLike artist page—popular songs, upcoming concerts, the iCast blog, even the iLike button—can be plopped into a Facebook artist page (also known as a canvas page). And every link in each of those widgets takes you back to the Facebook application pages that iLike controls.
This is not an unintended consequence. I asked Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg yesterday about the potential here for Facebook to be competing with its own app developers. He responded, “What is the effect on app developers if we are making it possible for bands to have music pages? It increases distribution because your app can be on that page.”
Fair enough. But where does that leave Facebook in the fight for the hearts and marketing dollars of the struggling music industry? Already, I like iLike’s chances in this battle. But it doesn’t end within the confines of Facebook.
On Monday, I met with iLike CEO Ali Partovi at the swank Fifth Avenue offices of the investment bank Allen & Co. (Partovi went to high school with Herb Allen III, who lets him use the office for meetings when he is in New York. And, of course, who did we run into in the lobby downstairs, but Ron Conway. That guy is everywhere. But I digress.). Partovi wants iLike to become a one-stop-shop for artists to manage their own profiles and communicate with their fans, whether on Facebook or elsewhere.
To make it easy for them to do that, iLike is also introducing today the Universal Artist Dashboard. From one place, a music artist or record label can set up an artist page on Facebook and iLike.com, as well as information that pops up in iLike plug-ins for iTunes and and Windows Media Player. And since iLike has also joined Google’s OpenSocial effort, these artist pages will soon be exportable to other social networks as well, such as MySpace, Bebo, Ning, Hi5, Orkut, and in iGoogle Web widgets. Instead of having to manage their profiles in all of these places, artists will be able to upload all of their songs, concert dates, and blog posts once to the Universal Artist Dashboard and then spread it all over the Web. They will be able to manage all the messages coming from those artist pages from the dashboard as well.
That is the power of being a widget company—you can insert yourself anywhere. Explains Partovi: “A syndicated effort is always stronger. Rather than try to bottle up everything in one place, push it out to where people are. That is why YouTube is so successful, because it is pasted all over the Internet.”
Take Avril Lavigne as an example. Her record label could create a Facebook page for her at http://www.facebook.com/Avril+Lavigne, which it hasn’t. But she does have an iLike page at
http://apps.facebook.com/ilike/artist/Avril+Lavigne:
Here is what her page, built from the same widgets, looks like on iLike.com. (Now, just imagine similar pages for MySpace, Bebo, Hi5, and all the other social networks participating in OpenSocial):
And here is what iTunes looks like with the iLike sidebar (also built from the same underlying data), showing updates from artists in your music library, including a recent tour bulletin from Avril Lavigne at the top:
Second!
It seems as though the embedded video player from tinypic a few articles back is throwing security sandbox error while trying illegally to contact javascript on the techcrunch page - it probably thinks it’s on it’s regular page where it can contact the JS. This is quite annoying for anyone using the debug version of flash (most flex/flash developers), as an error will appear each time you load techcrunch.com
Not only are these public pages a lame copy of myspace… check out the 50 cent page, they actually put a link to 50 cent’s myspace! HA
Myspace will always be better at music than Facebook. The nerds at Facebook just don’t get music. A musician doesn’t want to market himself in the same way as Diet Coke and Jeep Liberty. My guess is that many musicians will try out Facebook’s fan pages and then go back to focusing on Myspace because that’s where they get plays.
Facebook will become very annoying very soon especially if it just ends up filling your inbox withy spam and advertising……..
If you are looking for a complete review of main music sites you should definitely read: 22 amazing sites to listen to any kind of music for free. This post can be found at: http://www.businesshackers.com.....-for-free/
The iTunes sidebar needs to designed with better integration. Looks terrible.
Eric/Michael - I would bet that all TC readers, and your entire team at TC have been having a Facebook overload. How about we pick a day, any day, and call it “no facebook day”. No mention of Facebook that entire day whatsoever. Although that may mean a super overload of FB-related stuff the following day making up for all the lost coverage, I still think it would be refreshing to go for an entire day without having to read something or the other about FB.
I have nothing against FB and I think they’re doing a kick ass job, but man is this way too much. Just a thought!
Both Goood
It’s true, the iLike experience seems better, they have their momentum and will use openSocial to spread amongst the other social networks.
What really intrigue me is the fact they are just hosts in these containers,
what happen if Facebook decide that iLike just breached one of their rules and shut it out of Facebook?
Will the Facebook revolt?
What if Facebook hijack all of the iLike page on Facebook and insert Facebook bands pages?
It may sounds creepy and something Facebook will not try to do, but end of day, what matters to facebook is the engagement with their businesses, if they think that one of their developer’s widget is stealing their show, they will do everything/anything to stop them and take the lead.
http://www.octabox.com
I realize that artists need to essentially become brands in the future to effectively monetize off their work. Still, can it not be called “ads”, per se? Is there not a way to dress it up in cuter, friendlier words? I wonder how much the majority of music fans would embrace the title “Mos Def Brand Ambassador”, rather than “Mos Def Fan”.
Let’s not forget, that artists need to eat.
I think most of this conversation presented here is moot; the next generation of music “social network” that wins will balance the best of both media playback capability and most importantly, monetization. That’s why i think companies like imeem are so promising. Aritsts, in theory, have a direct incentive to invest time and effort into their imeem profiles, as eyeballs directly translates into monetization.
But for the sake of argument: facebook has all the tools, infrastructure and engineers to create this killer platform. However, what they don’t have is, a focused group of music lovers and artists that would account for the micro contextual details of fans, and especially artists. So, in this context, i like ilike’s odds of winning out.
Thanks for the vote of confidence, Erick! iLove the article
May I note that the title implying a “Battle” between iLike and Facebook might be a tad over-stated. After all, we’ve been working closely with the fine folks at Facebook not only to develop the new apps for the new Pages, but also to auto-create the new Pages in question.
We couldn’t be happier with the new opportunities this opens for us. The bigger “battle” for us is the battle to keep up with the traffic
Ali Partovi, CEO, iLike inc
Oh goody, another facebook post on techcrunch and another example of how facebook is jumping the shark….
Sigh…
If it can be true, Facebook will not try to do, but end of day, what matters to facebook is the engagement with their businesses, if they think that one of their developer’s widget is stealing their show
Well I think this is fascinating. The boundaries between Widget and Platform are becoming hugely blurred by the iLike application. Platforms will soon be developing themselve to integrate with the best widgets rather than the other way around. It is also gratifying to see that it is the most useful tool which rises to the top and potentially dictates the direction of its carriers. Fantastic, democratic development of the web before our very eyes.
you missed one
http://apps.facebook.com/avrillavigne/
there is two impact #1 bad result and #2 good result. sometimes good for company and bad for artist and vice versa.
also who is making money here??
Do you go with the iLike page as your main Facebook page (and take advantage of the nearly 10 million members who use the iLike app), or do you go with your own advertiser page on Facebook? Case in point: the new Facebook page for 50 Cent (shown left) had only three fans when it first went up just after midnight, compared to 1.2 million fans on his iLike page on Facebook:
RADIO 2 UK WAS SAYING THAT YOU CAN ONLY HAVE 5K FRIENDS ON FACEBOOK PAGE BEFORE IT GOES A BIT RUBBISH AND STOPS WORKING. SO BACK TO THE DISCUSSION IF THIS IS THE CASE THEN ILIKE PAGE PAGE HAS TOO BE THE LEAD?
Apple iPhone:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=13894160155
@bryan (11)
For monetization, amiestreet will be the way to go.
This is what an artists hears:
- 2006 - invest time in MySpace
- 2007 - invest time in iLike
- 2007.5 - invest time in FaceBook
- 2007.6 - invest time in iMeeM
- 2007.7 - invest time in this and that and this and that…
- Give away your music
- Chase fake friends…
- Make pennies from advertising, etc, etc, etc.
- I just want to make music - dude!
Jeff Huber from Google said “The web is the platform…” and I take this advice to heart when I advise artists. I think some of these new propositions for music are great, but my advice is holding at this: make your own blog and use these other sites to drive traffic to your own blogsite / website.
For example: I had this artist ditch MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/jediahband - click to see what we did) and set up a SquareSpace account (simple simple stuff) instead.
I asked the band to stop fake-friending and go back to making music, had the manager go out and find sponsors, and I am pushing FREE music using inexpensive Google banners.
Artists, you will be able to go direct to consumer without expending lots of time on every new “platform” that pops up (the flavour of the month). Pick and choose the widgets you need; have your manager learn to use AdSense and Amazon Affiliate; and make him/her go out and find local sponsors.
If your manager is only capable of booking your shows, then find someone that reads TechCrunch.
I think building a network of “friends” within a branded ecosystem is overrated. If you make great music, real friends will find your own site and you will be the beneficiary of the traffic.
Once again, some of these new tools are great, but think wisely about how you use them and your time. Setting up a quick profile and using these sites to drive traffic to your own blog/site is my 2007.11 recommendation.
Everybody is competing with everyone at everywhere.
WebCurrents
As previously pointed out by Michael in a different post, Facebook has no qualms about cannibalizing on popular facebook apps. I wonder if this gives developers pause on whether they should focus their attention on facebook apps or go with Open Social.
What if we have an aggregator for musicians’ pages in any sites like MySpace, YouTube, Bebo, iLike, Facebook, whatever? Isn’t it cool to search music and continuously listen to (and even manage) it?
Check out http://www.qbox.com. This site will be an disruptive innovation in the music industry, I believe.
@Ali (12)
This is an fascinating development in the online music space. iLike has now morphed from an app on Facebook’s platform, to a fully-fledged platform across social networks. With the Universal Artist Dashboard, you’re allowing artists to manage their presence across social networks and desktop media players. This transforms the interface between artists and their fans, the way they communicate with each other. We see this as a landmark shifting of the boundaries between app and platform, and a significant increase in the value iLike offers musicians and fans.
Our question to you (as a company focusing on live music with a competitive app in the works): Will you allow the artists to choose the apps they use on their Universal Artist Dashboard? If iLike becomes the single way that artists manage their presence on the internet, will this Dashboard be restricted to iLike apps? Or will you open up your platform to 3rd party apps as Facebook has done, allowing artists to select the apps that best suit their needs? Will there a mechanism that allows the best apps to emerge virally, for example by showing which have been explicitly added by artists.
Obviously from our perspective, openness is better. Songkick focuses exclusively on live music: getting the most comprehensive listings, displaying all available ticket options. Facebook allowed app developers to focus on their core competencies while taking advantage of the incredible infrastructure Facebook built. Will you do the same? We strongly believe that by allowing competition to flourish, the best solutions rise to the top.
We would then see the best music recommendation widget, the best music distribution widget, the best concert widget, and a truly ground-breaking platform for music.
Ian Hogarth
CEO Songkick
what i like more is ilike.com. =) Well… both offers great and updated music bits and pieces so I think the challenge will be on our hands.
Fuck iLike, go last.fm!
From what I have read, iLike’s new Universal Artist Dashboard and impending launch into open social apparently does NOT give a band an independent presence across all social platforms. What it does is give them a presence in iLike. iLike will give themselves a presence into all of these other platforms. Therefore, an artist who uses iLike as a solution to get access in all of these networks is limited by the success or failure of iLike to penetrate all of these networks for them - something they have succeeded at with Facebook so far. I wonder how MySpace and others will react to iLike’s attempted insertion of themselves between the artists and fans - something that many of these social networks derive great value and ATTENTION (read: money) from. I also wonder how most artists will feel about uploading their content and driving their fans to a company that is partially owned by Ticketmaster (TM is an owner of iLike). Ticketmaster, to many artists, is the last company in the world they will want to have accessing/intercepting their relationships with fans to try and gouge them with $10 surcharges, etc (and believe me, Ticketmaster did not invest in iLike without an expectation of return on that investment). My guess is that iLike will be yet another place where some artists will go to get noticed, but the idea that savvy artists (excluding the desperate major labels) will cast their lot entirely with iLike’s “Universal” service seems a bit far-fetched in a world where the artists need to have independent control over their fan relationships to derive real value.
Ian’s comments and question are also spot on. Will iLike go the route of allowing other apps to function inside of theirs, or are they just another walled garden trying to quickly transplant the seedlings from the current gardens whose walls are finally coming down?