By Eliot Van Buskirk of Evolver.fm.
When you’re in charge of a publication, sometimes you look at server logs to see what people are reading. We try not to obsess too much about it, because it encourages repetition of the same formulaic story ideas over original articles with a mind to the future.
Still, we can’t help but notice that lots of people are still reading the Top 20 Facebook Music Apps story we published nearly two years ago, and plenty has changed since then — such as Mark Zuckerberg announcing a revamped Facebook Connect program for apps in September 2011 (pictured above, credit below), which has altered the landscape considerably, and the mere passage of time has done more of the same.
As such, we figure we owe you a new version. Here are the (new) most popular music apps that connect to Facebook, allowing you to share your listening habits with your friends… unless you don’t want to. (Pro tip: You can also unfriend fans of horrible music now.)
First, some general observations about what makes a music app popular on Facebook these days, as well as a little analysis of how the list has changed since spring 2011:
- Playlist-sharing services are trending upward.
- Music on Facebook is getting regionalized, with more country-specific services making the list.
- Plenty of apps help you find out about live shows, but Bandsintown rules the roost among Facebook-connected apps, by a long shot.
- Spotify dominates all other Facebook-connected music apps — especially the other on-demand subscriptions.
- Pandora, the top streaming radio provider in the world’s biggest music market (the U.S.), is not on the list. Will its lack of Facebook Connect integration hurt it in the long run?
- Facebook’s manager of strategic partnerships commended Vevo’s Facebook integration to Evolver.fm last month, and it appears to be paying off; YouTube does not make the list.
- Update: Facebook does not list BandPage in the Music section of its App Center, probably because it’s for bands and not fans. It topped the spring 2011 list, and it is a music app, so we’re including it here.
| Name/Link | Official description | Monthly Active Users (minimum) |
| Spotify | Spotify is a streaming music service that gives you access to millions of songs. Play, discover and share new music. | 24 million |
| iHeartRadio | iHeartRadio is a free, all-in-one digital service that lets you find more than 1,500 of radio’s top Live Stations or create Custom Stations featuring artists or songs you select and similar music. | 4.1 million |
| Deezer | Discover, listen to and share all the music you want – anytime, anywhere. Completely free. | 3.4 million |
| BandPage | Our mission here at BandPage is to revolutionize the way musicians, fans and the industry interact. (Updated: Facebook does not list BandPage in the music section of its App Center.) | 2.4 million |
| Bandsintown | Bandsintown is an application for live music fans and artists. | 1.7 million |
| ReverbNation | Discover great local music, browse the local charts, and share with your friends. | 1.2 million |
| Songza | Working? Relaxing? At the gym? Songza plays you the right music at the right time. | 1 million |
| Vevo | Watch over 50,000 HD music videos plus concerts and original programming from the leading premium music & entertainment platform. | 780K |
| Jango | Jango.com is a free personal internet radio that streams music on the web and to your smartphone (iPhone/Android). | 610K |
| MixCloud | Listen to and discover great radio created by enthusiasts from across the world. | 610K |
| Vagalume Playlists | Listen to music on Facebook, share and find people with the same musical taste. | 610K |
| 8tracks | 8tracks is a handcrafted internet radio network — the “social” alternative to Pandora. People who know and love music curate online playlists, streamed by listeners by genre, mood, activity or artist. | 380K |
| Slacker Radio | Listen to and share over 150 expert-programmed stations, millions of songs, or playlists and stations you create. | 300K |
| TuneIn | Listen to music, sports and news from around the world — over 70,000 stations and 2 million on-demand programs | 300K |
| TTNET Müzik | TTNET Müzik is a digital music service with millions of songs. It’s easy and free to register TTNET Muzik. | 270K |
| MetroLyrics | Find more lyrics faster than any other lyric service, and completely free of charge. | 160K |
| Playlist.com | Playlist.com is the web’s premier music playlist site. | 150K |
| MOG | Listen free to millions of songs. Share with friends. Discover new music. | 150K |
| Rdio | Rdio lets you listen to millions of songs ad-free wherever you are – on the web and on your phone, even offline. | 150K |
| Spreaker | Create your own radio show and broadcast live from anywhere. | 150K |
| Saavn | Listen to, share, and discover Bollywood and Indian music with Saavn. | 130K |
| Mixlr | Mixlr makes live audio social, easy and fun. | 120K |
| Dhingana | Listen to the largest collection of Bollywood and Indian music for free with Dhingana. | 110K |
| Gaana.com | Listen to songs for free. Choose from the largest collection of music of Indian, regional and international genres. | 100K |
| Bug Music | Listen to 2.2 million songs. Enjoy your music life with the best music services in South Korea from Bugs. | 70K |
| ZippyTune | ZippyTune is a service that allows users to express themselves in the world of music and share their tunes with one another. | 70K |
| Online Pianist | OnlinePianist.com is a one of a kind free animated piano tutorial application for beginner & advanced players alike. | 60K |
| SoundTracking | SoundTracking is a fun & easy way to share the music you’re listening to with your friends on Facebook. | 50K |
Note: To create this list, we used a number of techniques to rejigger Facebook’s Top Rated lists from the music section of the Facebook App Center, which no longer indexes apps in terms of raw popularity (at least for public consumption). As such, it’s possible that we’re missing a popular-yet-very-low-rated app or two, but we figure “good riddance.” Also, we chose a lower cutoff of 50K unique users per month. Finally, we noticed that Facebook lists different usage numbers in its App Center index vs. on the individual app pages. We harvested the usage data from the latter, after ascertaining that they are more recent.
Photo courtesy of Facebook/dtweney
