Facebook Gaming announced multiple licensing deals Monday with music labels and publishers in a bid to secure rights for its content creators on the live streaming platform. Facebook Gaming secured multi-year deals with Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Kobalt Music Group, BMG, and Merlin, among others. These deals cover 90 countries, according to Facebook Gaming.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Facebook Gaming also did not disclose specific songs, but did note that a majority of music is covered and that “restricted tracks are rare.”
Facebook Gaming Partners will be the first to have access to licensed music, with plans for a wider rollout “soon.” The music can be used in live streamed videos, on-demand live streams, short clips, but not “long, edited videos that you might upload separately.” Generally, the rule is that music can be used on the platform in videos where it is not the main focus.
The goal of these multi-year deals, according to Facebook Gaming, is to give content creators on the platform the ability to legally add songs while streaming, without the hassle of dealing with copyright claims against their videos from rights holders — something competitor Twitch, YouTube, and other platforms have to deal with when a Digital Millennium Copyright Act claim is filed against content created by its users.