In another example of artists turning to Facebook over troubled MySpace for their Web 2.0 needs, Katy Perry will be visiting Facebook headquarters on Wednesday to make a “special announcement.”
The announcement will be made on Facebook Live, the company’s live streaming channel. As this article published, there was no official word on what the announcement might be –representatives for both Facebook and Perry had not granted Billboard.biz’s request for specifics — but that doesn’t mean we can’t speculate!
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Considering that the news will be divulged on the Facebook Live stream, perhaps Perry will be announcing an upcoming concert that Facebook will stream live, or that will stream live elsewhere with some sort of Facebook integration.
Or maybe some new feature will be announced? In June of 2009, Facebook introduced the Live Stream Box, which lets users share Facebook status updates and comments on any website where a video is being streamed. Live streaming service UStream uses this feature, and in the past has worked with the Jonas Brothers to stream performances from the band’s Facebook page, among other artists. So it seems unlikely that Facebook would send out a special note to announce something other artists have already done unless there was some sort of evolution involved.
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Last November, Facebook added Livestream for Facebook, a feature that lets Facebook users embed a video from the Livestream video-streaming service (a company similar to UStream) into their Facebook profiles. At the time, Facebook said it would integrate its credits-payment systems in the future to allow for pay-per-view services. So maybe this is the first implementation of that?
But really, it could be almost anything. Artists have worked with Facebook for some time: Shakira, Chamillionaire and others have exclusively debuted new music videos on the service. Maroon 5 broadcast a live performance from the Facebook headquarters. And most recently, Kanye West and Jay-Z gave away a free stream of their new single “H.A.M” to fans who “Liked” the Facebook page created for their upcoming album.
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Facebook historically has lacked a cohesive music strategy: It’s been content to let app developers create their own music-related services and let artists use the social networking platform as they wished.
With MySpace in decline, perhaps that will soon change.