MXP4 brings interactive music to Facebook but will Farmville users skip a beat?

In a bid to cash in on the popularity of ‘casual gaming’ on Facebook, the interactive music startup MXP4 is jumping on the uber-social networking site, rolling out 15 apps for major artists including David Guetta, Big Boi, Hot Chip and Enrique Iglesias.

The idea being that artists and labels can now offer a music solution on their Facebook page that moves beyond traditional streaming and, perhaps, compete more effectively for users’ attention over the likes of Farmville. Well, that’s the aim anyway.

MXP4’s Facebook apps offer fans an “immersive, social-music experience” through a video game-like interface in which they can create an on-the-fly “remix” or use the sing-a-long karaoke functionality where they have the option to mute the original vocal and provide their own.

Ultimately, it’s hoped that by providing a more interactive listening experience, MXP4’s solution will strengthen the fan-artist relationship and the Paris-based startup’s own statistics, which it never misses an opportunity to tout, appear to back this up. MXP4 says that music fans use the company’s applications for an average of 9.1 minutes per session and that click through rates to purchase goods online have exceeded 3%.

MXP4 has raised $13m to date, including its most recent round of $4 million led by Paris-based Goojet funder Orkos Capital, and involving previous investor Sofinnova (which backs Streamezzo) and Ventech (in Eyeka). It claims that over a million fans are already using MXP4 apps to “play with their favorite music”, while just last month we reported on its most recent partnership with CBS-owned Last.fm who are offering brands the option to create ads that users of the music streaming and discovery service can interact with.