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Facebook is offering major record labels and music publishers millions of dollars so its users can include songs in videos tat they upload, to the social network sources familiar with the negotiations tell Bloomberg. Lacking these licences, Facebook has been forced to take down all videos that even inadvertently include music.
No word yet on whether or not these proposed payments have been offered to Merlin and its 20,000 indie label members or others in the indie music community. [We've reached out to sources and will update when we know more.]
This new cash offer comes at a time when many music companies are already reporting strong growth driven by streaming revenue. These payments are not thought to be a permanent solution for Facebook, however. Rights holders have been negotiating with Facebook for months, and the social network has hired a team to build a system to identify and tag music. But this new tech could take as much as two years to complete; and with Facebook's increasing emphasis on video, music is a major missing piece and a source of frustration for users.Facebook Music Deals Good News For Musicians, MarketersIn addition to any cash that might trickle down to the indie sector, the inability to include music in Facebook posts has been a major source of frustration for musicians and music marketers. This new deal, assuming it includes the indies, will mean that a video posted to YouTube can be promoted with a teaser clip on Facebook, for example. A Facebook Event could also now include a music video, rather than a link to another site.Related articles
