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Assuming the average song is around 3:30 minutes, that comes out to 7.4 cents per play. This doesn't seem to bad, especially when compared to the rate of 0.1-0.2 cents per play for "pureplay" and "run-of-the-mill" webcasters [1]. This guy's songs seemed to be around 30 seconds each[2], but that would still be more than 1 cent per play. (It seems odd that the pay rate doesn't take into account the song length. This is probably just to keep things simpler.) And this is all ignoring the fact that this was only three "users" who were listening to the songs.

[1] $2.5 Billion: The Big Number that “Big Radio” could owe each year if it paid music royalties at Pandora’s rates Info a little less than half way down the page

[2] John Matrix

I think this would be the best option. I use RDIO, which is kind of like NetFlix for music. You can play music in the browser, but they also have a Native app that runs outside your browser. I think Netflix should do the same. The disadvantage is that you would have to install something on every computer you want to watch movies on. I'm sure people watch stuff at work, or even on a work laptop, but may be unable to install applications. Perhaps they could go the Chrome route and create an application that just installs itself in your local user directory to get around various restrictions for installing stuff. This would probably give the most reliable playback on all platforms.

Indeed. If Facebook wanted Spotify to become Facebook Music, you would have thought that they could have at least had the class to buy Spotify and give the owners a payout. I suppose there's a reason why "Facebook" and "class" aren't words you think of together too often, though.

Part of me wonders if Facebook didn't give them the old Offer You Can't Refuse, the way Microsoft used to do in the old days. Back when Windows was the monoculture, Microsoft could extract enormous concessions from potential partners simply by threatening to dump a competing product into Windows and give it away for free if they didn't play ball. One could certainly see Facebook having similar leverage over any social service; so many people are on Facebook now that if FB picked up a Spotify competitor (say, rdio), rebranded it as Facebook Music, and gave it away 100% free, Spotify's business model would be in serious jeopardy. That gives Facebook a pretty big hammer to wield over Spotify at the negotiating table.

I use rdio.com (Canada & US) for $5/m. On demand music is fantastic. Seriously, its great for general listening (listen at work a lot), but it really shines when you have friends over. Just leave the laptop open and anyone can just go and play whatever song they feel like. Definitely worth it for $5/m.

I use rdio.com, which is available in Canada and the U.S. No free service, but $5/m gives you on-demand music. I'm always worried the labels are going to get greedy and start imposing stupid restrictions, even on paying customers, which would force me to drop the service.

Another one you might want to try is Rdio (available in the US and CA currently). Good interface and social features.

I use rdio.com, which is available in Canada, as well as the U.S. For $5 CAD / month, I think it is worth it.

I'm happily streaming music from Rdio for $4.99/mo in Canada. I recommend it.