Sony/ATV Music Publishing and Facebook have announced the signing of a ground-breaking licensing agreement.
The multi-territory, multi-year deal is the first between the world’s leading music publishing company, which oversees a catalog of more than 3 million songs, and Facebook, which has more than 2 billion monthly active users. It provides Sony/ATV’s songwriters with a unique opportunity to earn royalties from the use of their music on both Facebook and Instagram.
Under the agreement, users will be able to upload and share videos on Facebook, Instagram and Oculus that contain compositions licensed from Sony/ATV’s catalog as well as personalize their music experiences with songs from the catalog.
Sony/ATV Chairman and CEO Martin Bandier expressed his delight at the new partnership.
“We are thrilled that in signing this agreement Facebook recognizes the value that music brings to their service and that our songwriters will now benefit from the use of their music on Facebook. We are looking forward to a long and prosperous relationship.”
Also reacting to the development Tamara Hrivnak, Head of Music Business Development and Partnerships, Facebook said:
“We’re excited to work with the largest music publisher in the world to bring amazing songs which deepen connections between friends and fans. Sony/ATV is a true leader and an absolute champion of writers in the digital space, and we’re thrilled to work with them as they grab new opportunities by the horns across all of our platforms.”
Sony/ATV Music Publishing, established in 1995, is the world’s leading music publisher. Sony/ATV Music Publishing owns or administers more than 3 million copyrights, including those of EMI Music Publishing and iconic music catalogs.
Facebook is the largest social app in terms of logged-in users with over two billion users above YouTube’s 1.5 billion, WeChat’s 889 million, Twitter’s 328 million and Snapchat’s estimated 255 million.
Facebook website was launched on February 4, 2004, by Mark Zuckerberg, along with fellow Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes.
