Facebook partners with TuneCore and DistroKid, launches artist programme

The social media giant says it joined forces with third-party music distribution companies TuneCore and DistroKid to accelerate the process of putting artists’ songs on Facebook and Instagram.

After the songs have been shared, they can be used to create content on their products, including music stickers and lyrics on Facebook and Instagram Stories, which enable people to add a soundtrack to the stories they share. Artists will get paid when their music is used by the platforms, all depending on the terms of the selected distributor.

“Facebook is proud to make it easier for independent artists and creators to reach new audiences on our platform and build community through music,” Facebook music business development manager Chris Papaleo said. “When joining our Independent Artist Programme, creators are backed by our outstanding distribution partners, allowing them to get their music in front of more people, across all of our apps.”

TuneCore chief Revenue Officer Andreea Gleeson said:  “These days we are seeing a levelling of the playing field as discovery is happening via social media and no longer solely dependent on industry executives and DJs handpicking hits. With the popularity of short-form videos, Facebook Stories and Instagram Reels are two important platforms on which fans are finding songs and artists, with careers being made when songs go viral. The Facebook Independent Artist Programme provides an even greater gateway for indie artists from around the world to be heard.”

In May, Instagram also started testing a new Audio tab for music discovery under the Explore options, which lets users search for songs within the app.

Facebook says the partnership will also allow users to express themselves better musically. Facebook is not the first major video-based social media platform to ink deals with TuneCore and Distrokid. The deal follows TuneCore’s partnership in May with YouTube to provide music for the latter company’s recently launched short-form video app, Shorts. In March, Distrokid signed a licensing deal with Snapchat.

Facebook and Instagram have introduced a number of tools to help creators and businesses sell directly to their audiences on social media since the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic took effect. Earlier this month, the company said that it would not take a commission from the earnings generated by content creators through its new tools until 2023.