The major problem with this joint venture deals with the mandatory part. While 800 million people are members of the Facebook community, there are also millions who opt out of using the invasive site. Spotify explains that many of its core users are already on the social network, but this doesn’t mean that everyone should be. Forcing those who simply want to discover new music to take the extra steps of signing up and entering private information is unfair, let alone bothersome. For companies and customers to maintain a healthy relationship, adhering to legalities and ethical codes of conduct is mandatory—joining social media sites isn’t.
While this rule is for new members only, current paying and non-paying Spotify users are concerned. Mark Zuckerberg’s billion-dollar company is known for handing over user information such as age, interests, and location to third parties, an action that’s borderline invasion of privacy. For those trusting Spotify with their credit card information (that’s over 2 million people), this partnership is especially worrisome. This requirement also discourages non-paying users from upgrading to a premium account. How can someone who pays for Spotify services trust that their personal and financial information is secure?
With this integration, every song users listen to will appear on a friend’s main timeline and mini news feed. This needless information clutters one’s page, something Facebook tried to eliminate with its new interface. The two businesses are making a problem we see with seemingly every social media site, over sharing, worse. It isn’t necessary for us to know what you’re having for lunch, let alone which Foster the People song you can’t get enough of.
We worry that this kind of partnership is just the beginning of a possible trend. Will Facebook be required for other services or application memberships? What about major retailers or e-commerce sites? If that’s the path we’re headed toward, we fear that the fun in being social with our media will be eliminated.
Not everything we do online—including what tunes we’re listening to—should be shared with peers, family members, and random folks from high school. By forcing social media down users’ throats, Spotify executives are encouraging them to flock to competitors like Grooveshark and Last.fm. Who’s listening now?