Facebook wants to make it even easier for you to inundate your friends and family with unnecessary updates by incorporating a vast library of recognizable songs into your social media experience. Universal Music Group (UMG) and the company fronted by the 2017 Misinformer of the Year announced a global multi-year agreement Thursday in which UMG will license music and publishing catalogs for "video and other social experiences" on Facebook, Instagram, and Oculus.
The agreement aims to foster increased engagement between artists and fans online by first allowing users to upload videos containing licensed music. Eventually, the FB x UMG collab will expand to also include access to UMG's library across multiple social features and music-based products, including a revamped Messenger app.
"Together, Facebook and UMG are creating a dynamic new model for collaboration between music companies and social platforms to advance the interests of recording artists and songwriters while enhancing the social experience of music for their fans," Michael Nash, UMG's Executive VP of Digital Strategy, said in a statement. "This partnership is an important first step demonstrating that innovation and fair compensation for music creators are mutually reinforcing—they thrive together."
Depending on the nature of future music-based social media experiences made possible by this agreement, the impact on the music industry could be palpable. If later music-based social experiences are deemed indicative of a track's popularity, for example, then it's easy to imagine a scenario in which artists and labels start pushing for Facebook and related "experience" stats to be considered on the Billboard charts.
