Facebook is looking to go head-to-head with YouTube by introducing music videos onto the social media platform.
As Billboard reports, Facebook is said to be working on licensing deals with major labels in order to develop a music video trial.
By the end of the year Mark Zuckerberg and co. want to conduct a test whereby music videos, selected by major labels, are displayed within a user’s main feed.
Facebook has been making a number of moves lately in order to bring users and creators from YouTube to the social media juggernaut. Variety reported this week that Facebook was introducing autoplay ads that roll in between clips.
Facebook will keep 45% of that revenue leaving 55% to be divided among right holders whose videos are viewed from a suggested-video feature that has recently been added to the iPhone app. YouTube’s revenue split is currently the same.
Video has become a huge function of Facebook and earlier this year it hit 4 billion daily video streams. That’s an increase of 1 billion since last December, as Variety points out. It puts Facebook in an enviable position to launch a music video function to a wide, already-active audience.
Music videos are beginning to become a drawcard feature of many social media and streaming platforms. Tidal introduced music videos when it launched in March and Apple Music also allows users to stream music videos. In May, Spotify also announced that it was introducing video content to its music catalogue.
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