If you spend a lot of time on Facebook but you want some music while you’re doing so, you might get your wish soon. Facebook is building an in-line audio player so you will be able to listen to songs and playlists while on the social media platform without having to open another app. This is part of a new partnership between the two called Project Boombox and may also be part of Facebook’s push for more audio content on the platform.
According to Tech Crunch, Facebook is currently working on an audio player that will let users listen to music and podcasts from Spotify without having to open the Spotify app itself. The initiative, which has been nicknamed Boombox, is part of Facebook’s initiative to let creators improve the experience of their audience on the Facebook platform directly, according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg. This time around, its musicians and podcast creators that will be benefitting.
The “boombox” is already being tested in non-US markets including Mexico and Thailand. Musicians and podcast creators will supposedly be able to link their music and other audio content from Spotify directly to their pages and people can listen to it from there without switching to another app. There are no details yet on how this will work or what’s the user interface when they will be playing music or podcasts on Facebook itself. But considering it’s already in the testing stage, we can expect an initial rollout to the rest of the markets in the next few weeks or days.
Earlier this week, Facebook announced their audio-focused initiatives over the next few months, which includes things like new audio creation tools, a new social audio short-form format called Soundbites, and the Clubhouse-like Live Audio Rooms on both the main app and Messenger. Another thing mentioned was podcasts being available on the platform so we don’t know how this will work with the Spotify podcasts.
Facebook and Spotify have had a pretty good relationship over the years so this integration is not a surprise. One of the most popular integrations is letting users share Spotify songs and albums on their Instagram Stories and eventually Facebook Stories. Let’s see how this new boombox thing plays out.