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This article was published on July 15, 2020

Facebook wants to lure you away from YouTube with official music videos


Facebook wants to lure you away from YouTube with official music videos

Facebook is taking another step to lure some folks away from YouTube. The social network will soon let you watch official music videos from artists in the US.

According to a report by TechCrunch, Facebook informed all artist page managers of a new setting that will automatically add all their music videos to the page. The report noted that the setting will go live in August, and if page managers disable it, music videos won’t appear on the artist’s page.

However, since the company has licensed those videos, they’ll appear at another place. You will be able to watch videos in the Facebook’s Watch tab as well as a special feed for music videos.

A tweet with a description from an industry executive says music labels were not putting out videos on Facebook till now as there was no monetization factor. Now, the social network is providing a separate algorithmic feed for them.

Facebook’s deal with music labels till now has allowed it to use short clips of songs in experiences such as Instagram stories or Reels (the app’s TikTok clone). But now, folks in the US will be able to see full music videos.

YouTube has been a go-to place for music lovers for the longest time. Apart from finding official music videos, you can find cool covers and mashups of the song.

Facebook’s new effort might not be directly aiming to replace that experience, but its idea is to give you another option to watch these music videos. And if you’re checking out pages of your favorite artists on a regular basis, why not?

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