Facebook adds "Listen" button to musician pages

One thing that was popular on MySpace was the fact that musicians could upload their songs to the social network and users could listen to it on the musicians' page. This especially helped bands that were just starting out or even bigger bands that wanted to tease some music before an album release. Now, Facebook has integrated the music sharing and streaming concept, and has added a "Listen" button to musician pages. The "Listen" button is placed right next to the "Like" button. When a user clicks the "Listen" button, the music will play in the user's music player of choice, be it MOG or Spotify, or any other Facebook music playing app that they've integrated. If a user has not integrated any music playing apps, Facebook will prompt them to set up one that is the most popular with that user's friends, or most popular around the world.

Facebook's "Listen" button

What this also means is, you can sample a band's music before you decide you want to "Like" them on Facebook. According to TechCrunch, the streaming royalties that artists will receive from their music being played on Facebook are small. However, being on a musician's fan page also exposes users to merchandise, concert tickets, as well as links to buying more of their music. The "Listen" button has rolled out for all musician pages but a mobile version might not be available yet. 

You hear different playlists depending on which streaming service you use. So for instance, if you're using Spotify, you will play the five most popular songs of the artist in a row. Rdio will play a mix of songs through the artist's "radio station". Facebook has the right idea with getting on board to support creativity. Currently, newer musicians especially, place their music on services like SoundCloud (which also allows for podcasts), but of course, Facebook provides more options for a band for greater interaction and sale of their merch. It might also be wise for Facebook to place "Listen" buttons on journalist and comedian pages so people can listen to podcasts. Furthermore, while Facebook is supporting musicians, filmmakers need some love too. While filmmakers can upload their videos to Facebook, the videos are usually very compressed. Perhaps Facebook can add a "Watch" button to filmmaker pages that will allow them to upload more uncompressed files, just like the services Vimeo provides. For now, hang out with your favourite musicians' music, and hopefully you'll discover more music you like as well with Facebook's "Listen" button. What's interesting is, remember when Facebook was limiting the word "Listen" for certain apps? They could only use the word "Play" to play music while other, more premium apps could use "Listen".