According to the New York Times, Facebook has no interest in taking on Apple Music or Spotify-its sights are set on YouTube, which has more than a billion users who rack up billions of video views per day. In addition, the social network has reportedly offered to clamp down quicker on unauthorized content thank YouTube now does, conceivably making Facebook a more attractive place to debut new videos. Some music business sites had said earlier that Facebook was looking to compete directly with Rdio, Spotify and Apple Music.
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Initially, Facebook apparently just wants to test the waters, adding just a limited amount of videos to its news feed, and keeping tabs on their performance until the end of the year.
This was followed by reports that said Facebook has been testing a “suggested videos” feature, similar to YouTube’s, as well as rolling out more in-play adverts on such videos. When it comes to sharing multi-media, Facebook is one of the most versatile social networks out there. According to a spokesperson, the company has “no plans to go into music streaming”.
Facebook haven’t made an official statement about any of this, so obviously, this could be little more than rumour, but the whole thing makes sense when you break it down.
Facebook is considering to add music videos to its news feed. It has also encouraged its users to upload their own videos.
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Reports about Facebook entering into the music industry in some form originated at the start of the month when “multiple sources” told The Verge, Facebook is “getting into music” and that the plans would be ‘unique. Of Facebook’s $3.32 billion in revenue derived from advertising for its first quarter, ended March 31, the company said that 73 percent came from ads shown on mobile devices. The company has already experimented with the medium, having provided the platform for Jay-Z to premiere the music video for Holy Grail. It is however, not clear if the company is planning to push pop hits into users’ news feeds.
