Spotify rolls out in-app music player for Facebook in over 20 markets including North America

Spotify has teamed up with Facebook for a mechanism that allows users to listen to full songs on the latter social network in over 20 markets, including North America.

Starting Monday (April 26), paying Spotify subscribers in 27 markets can listen to full-length tracks and podcasts via the Facebook iOS and Android apps.

The new in-built mini-player allows users to continue scrolling while playing Spotify audio. The move, Spotify said in a statement, is an effort to boost music discovery via the social media app, whether it’s recommendations from friends or verified users and pages.

Free users will have access to the function but on shuffle mode and ads from Spotify added.

Countries currently with access to this function are Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, South Africa, Thailand, Uruguay, and the United States, with more to follow.

The move comes after Facebook revealed plans to strengthen its audio capabilities earlier this month. TechCrunch reports that the mini-player initiative was previously dubbed “Project Boombox” by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, while Recode reports that other plans include an “audio-only version of Rooms”, a new function that rivals audio app Clubhouse, and a podcast discovery product connected with Spotify.

A previous partnership between Spotify and Facebook in 2019 allowed users to share songs from Spotify’s catalogue, presented as 15-second audio clips, on Facebook stories.

This news comes on top of other Spotify moves this week. A price increase for subscriptions in the UK and Europe, announced on Monday, will take full effect from April 30.

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek also recently expressed a wish to buy Arsenal FC, should it ever go up for sale. The executive has reportedly recruited three of Arsenal’s Invincibles team –Thierry Henry, Patrick Viera, and Dennis Bergkamp – in a bid to buy the club.

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