Facebook’s hiring spree points to bigger plans in music
Facebook is exploring ways for artists to monetise their lockdown live streams. That much we already know.
There’s a little more to it. The social networking giant appears to be pushing ahead on those plans by way of a hiring spree, with new positions in music licensing, bean-counting and more opening-up in major markets.
MBW spotted a handful of new jobs which appear to prep the groundwork. Mark Zuckerberg’s tech beast is hiring a Music Accounting Manager; a Manager, Partner Marketing Manager, Entertainment (Music); a Digital Marketing Lead, Media Partnerships and a Music Business Development Manager, APAC, who will based in Singapore, Tokyo or Seoul.
The clincher is the digital company’s hunt for a Lead Counsel, Music Licensing, who will be based in New York, with the lucky candidate expected to “support Facebook’s music business development team in executing our global music licensing strategy across labels, publishers, and PROs.”
According to the job specs, the exec would “draft and negotiate partnership agreements with music industry stakeholders” and would need a track record in the digital environment.
Last Friday, Facebook pushed out news on a string of new features, which are intended to give artists a financial leg-up in these bleak times.
Among the spanking new virtual toys and tools is Messenger Rooms, which would provide a means for musos and other creatives to generate royalties from their performances on the platform, and several new live video features for Facebook, Instagram, and Portal, which will roll out sometime “soon.”
To support creators and small businesses, the statement reads, “we plan to add the ability for Pages to charge for access to events with Live videos on Facebook – anything from online performances to classes to professional conferences.”
Also, artists will be able to raise money for their favourite causes via a donate button, which can added to live videos, and the social platform is expanding its “Stars” tipping system for creatives.
Facebook and its Instagram platform have become the go-to livestream channels for artists during the Coronavirus lockdown.
Scale has everything to do with it.
Currently, Facebook boasts more than 2.5 billion users, and Instagram adds another one billion.
According to the company, views of Facebook Live and Instagram Live videos “increased significantly” in March, as the vast majority of its users entered lockdown.
This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.