New Facebook Music Apps

While MySpace has secured its dominance in the independent music world, there are a host of other social networking sites that are looking to offer more music-related features to their masses of users. Artist profile site ReverbNation.com has recently teamed with Facebook.com and SnoCap to help artists reach the immense audience of Facebook, which boasts over 25,000,000 users. Though ReverbNation already offers a series of MySpace widgets, from custom mini players to show schedule maps, this collaboration with Facebook’s new application allows users to add their favorite artist’s music to a playlist feature on their profile. In this way, Facebook users who download the application can browse new music and share their finds by posting songs to a playlist that is viewable by that user’s Facebook friends. In order to have songs included in the search results of Facebook’s new music application, artists must first register with ReverbNation.com and create an artist profile page. That artist profile page can then be re-created on your band’s very own Facebook page, which fans can visit for more information about your group. In order to sell mp3s from either site, artists must register with SnoCap.

ReverbNation isn’t the only site that is attempting to tap into Facebook’s huge audience. Avvenu, Inc., a company that provides artists with services that include remote access and sharing of their personal media, recently announced its decision to team with Facebook’s application feature as well. The new Avvenu for Music Facebook application similarly allows users to browse selections, experience new music found through the site or through their friends’ listed preferences and share their new favorite music with all of their Facebook friends. The Avvenu for Music application offers other features, as well. For example, the application automatically places “stickers” in user profiles that indicate the user’s favorite bands or artists, genres and even music era. Users with the application can share these stickers with their Facebook friends, add a customized “Sticker Wall” to more prominently display their collections, and are even able to comment on the sticker collections of their Facebook friends. The assigned stickers are determined through a detailed, analytical process that examines many factors about the user’s music selections before awarding various musical labels. Examples include everything from “Metalhead” to the mysterious “Unorthodox” and “I Love the ’80s.” This last feature aids fans in the music discovery process, and could draw in potential new listeners if your own music features labels that appeal to them.

imeem.com, the site that allows users to create playlists containing their favorite mp3s, videos and photos, has also teamed up with Facebook to create yet another music-sharing application. The imeem Facebook application allows the user to have access to any of the content already appearing on imeem’s site and offers the option of posting any of that content to that user’s profile. Users can also view the imeem content that their friends have added to their profiles, and not only does this allow users to discover new music from their friends, but it also provides an opportunity for bands to connect with and learn about their fan bases.