Spotify Added 1 Million New Subscribers Since Forced Facebook Logins Began [Spotify Reacts To Facebook Requirement Criticism, Also Seems To Be Adding Quite A Few New Subscribers In The Meantime]

Posted on TFTS by Robert Nelson on Tuesday, 27. September 2011 under: Audio,Visual

We saw the Spotify news come a few days back during the f8 Facebook conference — not only did the music service remove their invitation-only limitations but they also partnered with Facebook. And sure, other music services got in on the Facebook love during f8, however Spotify seems to have taken it a step further with that one requirement. You know, the one where they are requiring all new users to have a Facebook account in order to sign up.

Yup, so while Spotify is no longer being held back by invitations — you do have to be a Facebook user to sign up. That being said, while we do wonder why they made such a move, we also realize that Facebook has lots and lots and lots of users. And that being the case, it is not like Spotify is going to max out anytime soon.

Anyway, it looks like the folks at Spotify have offered an updated statement regarding the decision. The details come by way of Music Ally, who break it down as follows;

To us, this is all about creating an amazing new world of music discovery. As most of our users are already social and have already connected to Facebook, it seemed logical to integrate Spotify and Facebook logins. We already use Facebook as part of our backend to power our social features and by adopting Facebook’s login, we’ve created a simple and seamless social experience.
From today, all new Spotify users will need to have a Facebook account to join Spotify. Think of it as like a virtual ‘passport’, designed to make the experience smoother and easier, with one less username and password to remember. You don’t need to connect to Facebook and if you do decide to, you can always control what you share and don’t share by changing your Spotify settings at any time.

Of course, on the flip side, the statement did also go on to offer a slight out, should the need ever arise. According to that, Spotify is “always going to listen” to the users and they could end up “making changes based on this feedback.”

With that, it also looks like the Facebook requirement, or at least the publicity that came along with it has been good for Spotify who have reportedly been adding new customers at a rate of about 250,000 per day since.