In addition to Project Spartan, a rumored HTML5 store for web apps from Facebook, the social networking giant could be readying a music service of its own, reports GigaOM. Author Om Malik claims that Facebook is shopping the upcoming music service to record companies, aiming for an August launch. Rather than do a music store, Facebook apparently wants to create music services and applications integrated with the Facebook platform and accessed via the new Music tab in your profile. They are talking to Spotify and other music services, Malik reports:
So, you’ll be able to listen to music sourced from participating partners. A new playback/pause button next to the chat icon will let you control music playback and see what’s playing. Plus, the new button will appear in your news feed. There will also be something called Music Dashboard.
The Music Dashboard section is said to be a dedicated page with quick access to your music listening history, see what your friends have listened to or liked, browse a list of songs heard and recommended by your friends, see top songs from friends with gorgeous cover arts. Another interesting thing is a real-time ticker “that shows what is happening in your social and musical universe, including songs that your friends are playing”. It makes sense for Facebook to gain foothold in the music space and if there’s any substance to this report, it is now understandable why Apple and Facebook couldn’t come to terms regarding the Facebook Connect support in Apple’s social music service dubbed Ping.
