Yahoo!’s Abandoned App: Music Blogs On Facebook

I initially thought that Music Blogs, a Facebook app that uses music blogs as the source of streaming audio, was something new after finding it via Evolver.fm. It's an interesting idea. But it's actually just an old Yahoo! project that seems to have been abandoned, which could explain both its cliched choices and state of disrepair.

The Music Blogs app seems to be a fitting entry in the extended realm of music projects that rely on audio sources that allow them to bypass licensing issues. However, it turns out to be the Yahoo! Music Blogs app that launched back in 2007 and reminds me that, back in the day, we saw a number of projects that sourced audio via music blogs.

The basic idea is that you can choose from a number of music blogs that were known for offering MP3's and other forms of audio and play whatever's most recent on the blog or even pick a page to play. You can even embed the player in your website, though I haven't tested it to see if that functionality remains.

As noted on Evolver.fm, an excellent blog that reviews music apps, once you move past the intial choice of blogs to subsequent pages, the images don't load. Since it was reviewed a few weeks ago, it was obvious that the blog wasn't being cared for. I also found that, for some of the blogs, no music was loading and, in other cases, the "read this mp3 blog" option led to old versions of blogs that had moved.

The mystery was solved when I found this "wacky as only Yahoo! can do it" video that forefronts the connection to a company whose future is currently in question.

That also solved the odd list of music blog choices that reminded me of my hip hop blogging days when mainstream tech and techy-run media would tend to privilege music blogs featuring white bloggers and indie rock. It's weird to suddenly be reminded of their shortsightedness after having lost touch with that whole scene.

But it's also an indicator of how many reasonably legitimate sources of music can now be incorporated into music apps and websites. MP3 blogs always suffered from a certain amount of illegality, including behind-the-scenes promotion by music labels, that resulted in regular audio takedowns.

It strikes me as rather odd that the Music Blogs app is still found on Facebook with just enough info to see that it's a branded Yahoo! product that is in disrepair. But, given the ongoing turmoil at Yahoo!, it seems to be a fitting symbol of the fall from grace of a company in decline.

Hypebot contributor Clyde Smith is a freelance writer and blogger. He is currently relaunching Flux Research to pursue his long-standing obsession with web business models. To suggest music services and related topics for review at Hypebot, please contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.