Facebook is working on a new copyright system that will aim to help regulate videos with music that infringe on copyright. The system will be similar to YouTube's Content ID, where it would identify and remove videos with copyrighted music.
According to the Financial Times, labels are getting fed up with Facebook hosting videos that are amassing millions of views without any royalties being paid on these views.
According to the FT, once the ID system is in place, Facebook will coordinate with labels to license all of the music that is on the platform right now. The talks are said to still be in the early stages and a final agreement may not come until the spring of 2017.
There are many advantages to this right now. Since some artists like to stream songs directly through their Facebook page instead of using YouTube links because it is ranked higher in the Facebook algorithm and has higher engagement, this could mean these plays will be monetized.
In a recent op-ed for Billboard, NMPA president/CEO David Israelite wrote reported findings of copyright infringement they found on the social media service.
"In a recent snapshot search of 33 of today's top songs, NMPA identified 887 videos using those songs with over 619 million views, which amounts to an average of nearly 700,000 views per video," he wrote.
However this could pose a problem for users who aren't maliciously trying to break copyright laws. It could pit labels and publishers at odds with fans who make cover videos and meme accounts that use music. Once this rolls out, there will inevitably be some high-profile case, which pits the music industry against some cover artist or a meme creator.
Given how much music is hosted on Facebook, this change will be welcome for copyright holders, but it could have some bumps for those who use music in their content on the social media service.
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