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Facebook talking to the majors about possible music play

By | Published on Thursday 2 July 2015

Facebook

Now that Apple Music has fully killed off Spotify, after it fully killed off iTunes, I think it’s time we had an “Apple Music killer”. So, enter Facebook!

The social network has reportedly been speaking to all three majors about a possible move into music, which is something everyone used to chatter about back in the days when MySpace Music was first a thing (“Facebook will be doing music next” they used to say), but which might make more sense now the social networking firm has moved into video in such a big way.

That said, sources say Facebook isn’t entirely sure what any music service within its platform might look like. Like Apple, Facebook wouldn’t be too keen on the big upfront costs that come with launching licensed streaming music services, and unlike Apple it couldn’t set those costs off against a spike in device sales down the line.

It also seems likely that any Facebook music set-up would need to be ad-funded, and the music industry is down on ad-funded freemium at the moment. Though there is an argument that the record industry will only ever monetise a big chunk of mainstream consumers by creating a decent ad-funded platform, and that other streaming services have been too quick to give up on the potential of brand-funded services.

And Facebook, of course, is a leader in internet advertising. So, perhaps there is something in all this, though everyone stresses it’s very early days as yet. So you’ll all have to make do with Beats 1 and Zane Lowe’s shouting for now I’m afraid.



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