Controversy as Spotify requires new users to be on Facebook first

It seems premium streaming music service Spotify just inexorably linked its future to Facebook. Fresh from integrating so deeply with Facebook’s OpenGraph that users’ Ticker stream are teaming with their friends’ listening tastes, it is now requiring new users to have a Facebook account first in order to sign-up for the service.

Visitors to the sign-up page are now greeted with “You need a Facebook account to register for Spotify. If you have an account, just log in below to register. If you don’t have a Facebook account, get one by clicking the ‘create an account’ link below.”

The issue has ignited savage debate on Twitter, with one artist management company saying Spotify has “sold its soul to the Devil”.

Meanwhile on the company’s Get Satisfaction account, a Spotify employee has responded with the suggestion that users create a fake Facebook account and “add nothing to it and make it totally private”. This seems to contravene Facebook’s T&Cs.

Forcing people to have a Facebook account just to use Spotify seems pretty heavy handed, although it’s clear that Spotify is ‘doing a Zynga’ by linking its growth to to metoric rise of the social network.

I for one am glad I signed up with my own separate account long ago.