Facebook launches new music features

After a round of deal-making with record labels, Facebook has announced a new raft of music features for its 2 billion monthly users.

* Videos which feature copyrighted music in the background will now be allowed.

This will certainly also be a boon for advertisers who in the past have had to post their ads without the considerable impact of the music soundtrack.

* The new video editing tool Sound Collection, launched last December, will allow users to insert into Facebook and Instagram clips “songs, vocals, noises, and instrumental tracks spanning genres like hip hop, pop, jazz, country and more.”

* Down the track, Facebook plans to “start testing options for adding the music you love to Facebook Stories.”

* Lip Sync Live allows users pick from hundreds of Top 40 and classic songs to mime along to during a Facebook Live broadcast.

These include Drake’s ‘God’s Plan’, Ed Sheeran’s ‘Happier’, Guns N’Roses’ ‘Welcome To The Jungle’ and Camila Cabello’s ‘Havana’.

The feature is hugely popular on the Musical.ly karaoke app and is clearly a move by Facebook to draw in more younger users.

Artists of the songs used can be linked to their Facebook page with a tap.

Artists and labels will be financially compensated for use of their songs.

In a joint statement, head of music business development & partnerships Tamara Hrivnak and head of product, music & rights, Fred Beteille, said: “Together with the music industry, we are working to enable people around the world to include music in their videos on Facebook, opening up more options for creativity and sharing memories with friends and family.

“We’re testing this in several markets now and look forward to making it available more broadly soon.”

More discussions with the music industry will lead to more features being added, Hrivnak and Beteille said.