There was much discussion online yesterday about Spotify’s decision to force new users to log in using their Facebook accounts, so that anyone signing up to the streaming music service for the first time must also have an account with the social network.

It follows the revamp of Facebook last week which means the social network can now track, share and report on any one user’s use of services like Spotify, assuming they opt in. Although numerous music and other digital content services are offering apps that allow Facebook tracking, Spotify does seem to have a particularly close relationship with the social networking giant.

Critics point out that some people still find the concept of Facebook, and sharing of all that personal information, unpalatable, possibly more so as the social network, by default, becomes more intrusive. Therefore, while many sites now allow you to log in using your Facebook account, forcing that on new users is an interesting move.

Meanwhile, others have criticised an update screen some existing Spotify users have seen when logging into the service, which requests to more closely ally their Facebook and Spotify accounts, including allowing the social network to track usage by default. This basically means users must opt out of the new functionality, rather than opt in by installing an app within the Facebook interface.

Of course, most Spotify users are likely already Facebook users, many will want the two services to work in unison, and you can still opt out of the some of the new integration. Meanwhile Spotify insists that the closer integration with Facebook is a good thing, creating, it says, “an amazing new world of music discovery”. Though it is possible Facebook and its various content partners have confused data capture and usage stats with the art of credible human recommendation, but perhaps in this amazing new world there’s no difference.

Sections: Digital | Tags: Facebook, Spotify

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