Facebook Will Give Ad Revenue To Creators Who Use Music In Their Videos

Over the past few years, the reputation of licensed music has been notoriously negative on social media. In order to avoid being hit with copyright lawsuits, creators frequently go out of their way to ensure that there is no music playing in their videos. Facebook’s most recent tweak, though, might now inspire individuals to utilize music in their videos once more. 

Meta announced on Monday that it is introducing a new feature to allow revenue to be shared between an artist and a content creator whenever licensed music is played. 

With the new revenue-sharing model, music used in user-generated content that is over 60 seconds long will be entitled to receive 20% of the advertising revenue while the remaining 80% is presumed to be shared between Facebook and the music rightsholder. 

However, while this may sound like a great step in the right direction for content creators, it does have some limitations. As of right now, in agreement with the program that is overseeing the new service, Rights Manager, only a select group of artists’ music will be available.

This small pool of talent in its Licensed Music library includes Post Malone, Tove Lo, Grupo La Cambia, Leah Kate, and Bicep. 

While the options are tight, it’s definitely better than having nothing at all. It also moves into finding that perfect, sweet spot where artists and creators can strike an agreement on who gets paid.

This is the first time that a social media platform is willing to give revenue to its users and pay the licenser at the same time, Variety reports. However, Rights Manager could just be the weapon Facebook needs to go up against video platform giant TikTok after it made a separate move to change the design of its feed.  

In the press release, Facebook does state that it is continuing to grow its library and evolve the experience for both users and musicians as time goes on.  

[via Variety and Ad Age, Photo 248629424 © Rafael Henrique | Dreamstime.com]