Facebook has inked deals with some of the leading music rightsholders in India, including Zee Music Company and Yash Raj Films – plus T-Series Music, India’s largest homegrown record company.
The companies have licensed their music to Facebook to be used in the likes of videos, messages and stories on the platform as well on as Facebook-owned Instagram.
As of today (March 14), the T-Series YouTube channel has 89.3 million subscribers, more than 64.5bn views and continues to battle it out with PewDiePie for the world’s biggest YouTube presence.
In addition to India, Facebook has inked licensing deals with rightsholders in Thailand, with the labels GMM Grammy and RS according toBillboard.
The addition of Thailand and India brings the total number of countries where Facebook has music licences in place to 40 – as announced in a blog post by the social media giant yesterday (March 13).
Said Facebook in its blog post: “When it comes to people sharing their own videos on Facebook, there are a different set of features we need to provide — and music is central to many personal moments.
“We’ve been partnering with the global music community to make it possible for people to include music in their videos on Facebook, and today people in more than 40 countries can share personal videos with music. This includes India and Thailand, the newest additions to this list that we’re announcing today.”
Facebook has also revealed a new Spotify integration that will allow users to ‘tap through’ to the streaming platform from a song posted on a profile page and will be “adding other partners in the near future as well”.
Added Facebook: “Our aim is to connect people with the music and artists they love. We’ve started by helping people find new ways to express themselves and connect with artists and other fans through features like Lip Sync Live, music stickers in Stories on Facebook and Instagram and the ability for people to add songs to their Facebook Profile.
“And today, we’re introducing a new feature: from a song on your profile, we’re making it possible to tap through to Spotify — so people can listen to the full song and discover more from that artist. We’ll be adding other partners in the near future as well.”
There’s been a lot of music industry focus on India recently – and there’s good reason for tech companies to be rushing to launch and form relationships in the market.
There are different estimates about the number of active internet users in the country, but it’s safe to say that there are currently between 400-500 million and, the number of smartphone users is expected to reach close to 500m by 2022.
Spotify signed a global content deal with T-Series in January and then launched in the market on February 27 after a public spat with Warner/Chappell.
This week saw the arrival of Spotify’s rival, the Google-owned music streaming subscription YouTube Music, (which is actually competitively less expensive in India at 99 Rupees compared to a standard recurrent monthly Spotify Premium subscription of 119 Rupees).
Starting today (March 14), Facebook users in India can legally share hundreds of thousands of licensed tracks on the platform – a move referred to by T- Series Chairman and Managing Director Bhushan Kumar as a “stroke of genius”.
“We are excited about partnering with the music industry in India and the idea that people here will be now be able to include music in their videos on Facebook and Instagram, opening up more options for more ways to express and sharing memories with friends and family.”
Manish Chopra, Facebook India
Manish Chopra, Director and Head of Partnerships, Facebook India, said: “Music has always been a powerful medium of expression.
“We are excited about partnering with the music industry in India and the idea that people here will be now be able to include music in their videos on Facebook and Instagram, opening up more options for more ways to express and sharing memories with friends and family.”
“We’re living at a time when we’re talking to one another from across the globe using audio-visual language. One video with music and lyrics connects with billions across India and the planet.”
Bhushan Kumar, T-Series
Bhushan Kumar, T- Series Chairman and Managing Director, said: “We’re living at a time when we’re talking to one another from across the globe using audio-visual language. One video with music and lyrics connects with billions across India and the planet.
“There’s nothing more to be said. And where do they connect? Social Media. So, the idea to officially make available rights of Bollywood songs, which can be heard in every corner of the globe, to Facebook users so they can express their feelings through their posts, memes and messages with added masala and tadka, is an inevitable stroke of genius. Now, just say it with a Bollywood song. Even better, make it a T-Series song!”
“When Facebook came to us with this idea of users adding licensed music to their videos and photos, it was music to our ears. We knew this is the next logical step in the T-Series growth story.”
Neeraj Kalyan, T-Series
Neeraj Kalyan, T-Series President and Digital head of the music major, added: “When Facebook came to us with this idea of users adding licensed music to their videos and photos, it was music to our ears. We knew this is the next logical step in the T-Series growth story.
“Bollywood music is loved by all, so why not use it to communicate your thoughts and feelings?
“We have one of the largest catalog of songs and T-Series, today, is India’s leading music label, digitally. Today’s digitally savvy consumers are ultra-creative and it will be interesting to see how they re-purpose our music and videos to say what they want the world to hear.”
“We are excited to partner with Facebook to introduce newer ways for users to express themselves with music.”
Anurag Bedi, Zee Music Company
Anurag Bedi, Business Head, Zee Music Company said: “We are excited to partner with Facebook to introduce newer ways for users to express themselves with music.
“By such associations, it is our endeavor to bring innovative musical experiences from across the globe to our social media savvy audiences.”
“For a nation that has music and cinema firmly ingrained in its soul, our association with Facebook offers a chance for audiences to experiment and express themselves through music and share the same with their friends.”
Anand Gurnani, Yash Raj Films
Anand Gurnani, Vice President – Digital, Yash Raj Films added: “For a nation that has music and cinema firmly ingrained in its soul, our association with Facebook offers a chance for audiences to experiment and express themselves through music and share the same with their friends.
“This further strengthens our approach of community building using music as an enable.”Music Business Worldwide
