Facebook app will soon play Spotify music with Project Boombox
Facebook is going all out on its new social audio thrust but not all of the music and podcasts it will play will be coming from its own users. While the social networking giant does have thousands of users who can create original audio content, other companies have the advantage when it comes to more established creators and channels. Almost like a jab at a common enemy, Facebook and Spotify are teaming up to bring the latter's wealth of audio content to Facebook users, all without leaving the app.
It's really not that difficult to switch between two apps, either on Android or iOS. Having Spotify play in the background while you use Facebook is trivial but having to switch back to Spotify to change tracks, playlists, or podcasts, can sometimes take you out of the zone, so to speak. That's the inconvenience that Facebook and Spotify are trying to fix with Project Boombox and it may just have Apple in its crosshair.
There have already been rumors that Facebook and Spotify were collaborating in bringing podcasts to the social network, which made sense given how podcasting experienced a resurgence of popularity in the past months. That said, what was revealed was actually more encompassing as this Boombox feature will apparently cover not just podcasts but also regular Spotify music.
According to the report, the Facebook app will integrate a built-in Spotify player that will let users immediately listen to Spotify music that was shared on Facebook without having to leave the app. The integration will also leverage Facebook's platform to let Spotify creators and artists more easily share their content on what is arguably the world's largest social network.
This partnership comes at a time when Apple, which is a common frenemy of Facebook and Spotify, is expected to also make a big push for podcast content. This Project Boombox, which is unlikely to be the formal name of the feature, is expected to arrive in about a week, ahead of all the social audio features that Facebook recently announced.