Since lockdown was imposed there has been a huge influx of streamed content via Facebook. Some stream shows have sadly been very bad, large amounts have been average but some have been extremely impressive. Due to nightclubs and festivals not operating as normal, for obvious reasons many promoters, agencies and artists have been beaming performances direct from various locations around the world and have featured the highest quality of music from all corners of the underground.
There is no substitute for the real ‘musical experience’ but streaming this sort of content has undoubtedly made a massive difference to a lot of people who rely on music to make their life whole, to remind themselves of the good times and to also remind them that they will hopefully return in the not so distant future. However, this could all but spell the end of sharing musical content on the social media platform and that also includes live streaming. For anybody who has either watched a DJ stream via Facebook there is often times where the sound has been muted or scrubbed altogether and this is as a result Facebook’s copyright algorithm kicking into action, but their new rules will go far beyond that.
In short, Facebook have confirmed that they do not authorise the use of music in any content that is posted on any of their products and this includes sharing music videos of any type. The focus in their guidelines is aimed at the commercial and non-personal use of music content but they go some way to confirm that users ‘may not use videos on our Products to create a music listening experience’. If these rules are not adhered to after October 1st then the offending users’ account can be blocked and or deleted.
Apart from the clear copyright issues that this move surely looks to address it is not immediately clear why they have chosen to outlaw the use of all videos containing music. With the immense number of users that use the various Facebook groups to share music with each other, the implications for music communities remaining connected during these difficult times are immeasurable. While the loss of this platform will be a hard pill to swallow there are other options for music streaming such as Youtube, Twitch, Periscope, and Mixcloud but I am sure we can all agree that not being able to share music on such a well-subscribed platform such as Facebook will not be without its drawbacks. It is worth pointing out at this stage that as with all streams that have taken place recently the bigger brands that have a working relationship with Facebook have not fallen foul of the usual muting of content and as such will possibly be able to remain online while other smaller outfits will likely not be able to operate after this deadline date.
To read the guidelines regarding the sharing of music on Facebook that come into effect on October 1st you can click here.
