Idolator
The long-rumored Facebook Music platform seems to be in its nascent stages: Today I got the first e-mail asking me to visit a musician's page on the social-networking site, which will probably be a relief to many out there as it's superior to MySpace on aesthetic terms (lack of annoying blinky backgrounds, in-network Scrabble games), if not so great as far as privacy is concerned.
The page was for the San Francisco band Dubious Ranger; if you're logged in, you have the chance to become a "fan" of an artist via a very hidden click on the right side of the page. Becoming a fan means you'll get artist updates in your Facebook news feed, although I'm guessing the probability of getting to play Scrabble with said artists if they're not busy with touring and stuff is low.
As far as the page itself, it combines the discography listings of sites like allmusic.com with standard social-networking site music offerings—concert listings, audio/video, photos, a message board—on Facebook's clean, animated-background-free pages. (There's also contact information for press and booking agents, although I wonder if larger acts will want to allow that much access to their nuts and bolts.) But that's only if you're logged in; the logged-out version, which will be seen by many more people as they click links e-mailed to them, is missing the discography, tour info, and audio/video widgets. That doesn't sound very user-friendly to me, but then again, neither does Tila Tequila's "music," and look where she is now. Screenshot of the plain-Jane version is below.
Dubious Ranger [Facebook]
Comments
I'm not sure how I feel about having someone who ISN'T Rupert Murdoch know which bands I'm friends with.
Still the same: Bands sounding like total fucking dipshits when listing their influences.
Scrabble with Animal Collective!
@Camp Tiger Claw: Oh fuck, my brain blotted out the part about that being a real band. These dudes are probably going to be proud of themselves for being "eclectic" for at least 3 more months.
MEH.
What is the difference with Facebook....just the lack of backgrounds and animations? Thin difference. And I officially saw my first butt ad on it today. Ugh.
Personally, I prefer to keep my bands, clubs and nonprofits and pretend friends on MySpace, rather than incorporate them in my Facebook collection of people I actually know.
only no amount of searching facebook* leads to finding the music application. is it an invitation only thing? and how did these people get invited?
it reminds me of my all-time favorite band promo. i was at a yo la tengo show at a community college in utica about seven years ago and they pulled a guy out of the crowd to play bongos for a cover of 'you sexy thing.' once he was done (after the sound guy basically turned the bongo mic off), he yelled out "www dot mp3 dot com slash bottomless salad!!" and then jumped off the stage.
i still remember their name, so i guess it worked.
(*read: the last four minutes)
BCAPIRIGI seems to be right... apparently Dubious Ranger is the only band that exists, ever. This will clear up a whole lot of space on my iPod.
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