I Don’t Use The Same Music Service As You, Can We Still Be Friends? Part 2

Maybe it’s because I’m usually the one sharing music links, or because I use most of the services, I didn’t realize how big of a deal it was when people link to music on services you don’t use. But based on the response I received from ‘Actually I use Rdio, Not Spotify, Your Link Is No Good To Me’, I touched on a nerve. Here’s some follow up and tricks to dealing with a million different services.

I updated the original post with a thought that if a Twitter client had a feature that let you set your default music service, it might solve the problem people run into. In this dream, the Twitter client would auto change all music links, redirecting to your service of choice. If the link didn’t change and you saw one outside your default you could assume it was the only one available. It turns out there is an app that works similar to that. Paul Dufour (Engineer at Brit.co) got in touch and let me know about an app/service he created called Trackpile.

After downloading the app, a menubar item runs and changes Rdio and Spotify links to a TrackPile URL (http://trackpile.com/s/2FZXaHC2LfzoiuNpWs4CnW) which then allows you to select either service. You can also set your choice as a default. Here’s a practice scenario, I’m listening to a song on Spotify that I want to share. I right click on the song, select “Copy HTTP Link,” and when I paste it into Tweetbot, people see the Trackpile URL. Someone reading my Twitter feed decides to take a chance on my recommendation and click on the link, they’re taken to a site that has two choices, either open the song in Spotify or Rdio. Simple as that.

Paul did mention that there would/could be more options for music services in the future with enough interest. It’s a great idea, it works well, and there’s a ton of potential, but I’d still love to see this stand alone service be turned into a feature. Seeing Tackpile work as quickly and effortlessly as it did, I don’t see a reason anyone couldn’t adopt a similar feature for their app, rather than having to have yet another program running.

Getting back to recommending Youtube as the default sharing service, here’s a tip for musicians. Even if you choose not to monetize a Youtube video (song), it’s still in your best interest to put the track up before fans beat you to the punch. Whether authorized or not, seemingly every song in human existence is available somewhere on Youtube. It would be in your best interest to be the first and most popular destination for the track and be able to have some sense of control of the music. Because hey, you may want to add ads at some point.

Update: Based on the original article, Shahruz (@shahruz) built his own take on a solution to the music sharing problem. Lstn.io is a web app that will give you links to Spotify, Rdio, Amazon, and iTunes based on whatever song you type.