Rogers was head of Yahoo!’s music efforts in a previous corporate incarnation, before heeding the call of the startup and joining Topspin, a label- and artist-services company. He remains on the Topspin board while taking the reins at Beats Music.
If one can divine the character of a yet-to-launch service by the personality of its leader, Rogers’ blog (Fistfulayen) is a must-read. He doesn’t post often, but the updates demonstrate a sharp blend of social network critiques, family business, youthful reminiscences, and (rarely) a Beats Music hint.
Today Rogers let fly an excoriating complaint of music services that auto-share their users’ every listen to Facebook. (His gripe is understandable, though it should be pointed out that most streaming services ask for an opt-in to auto-sharing, albeit one that is embedded in the Facebook registration.) Rogers provides instructions for disconnecting those auto-shares in Pandora, Spotify, Songza, Rdio, and Rhapsody — plus how to stop Facebook from displaying music-sharing on the receiving end. The man is on a mission.
The Beats Music hint? Here it is: “I promise you Beats Music will not do the ‘barf everything you play on Facebook’ bullshit.” If only Rogers were more plainspoken, we’d have a better understanding of how he feels. But seriously, auto-sharing should be a clear, obvious, separate and explained opt-in step in any platform’s registration process. For the sake of social sanity, we cast our vote with Ian Rogers. Now, let’s have a look at that Beats Music service.
[First spotted on Hypebot]