Meta’s looking to help creators use a wider variety of music in their video clips, while also offering another revenue stream for musicians, via a new Music Revenue Sharing program, which will enable creators to add licensed music into their content, with music rights holders to take a percentage of any ad revenue subsequently generated.

The new offering will only apply to videos that are eligible for in-stream ads (60 seconds or longer), which will then enable Meta to allocate direct revenue from those clips back to music creators (or rights holders).

As explained by Meta:

“With video making up half of the time spent on Facebook, Music Revenue Sharing helps creators access more popular music, deepening relationships with their fans – and the music industry. Made possible through our partnerships across the music industry, this feature is the first of its kind at this scale, benefiting creators, our partners, music rights holders and fans.”

Music rights have long been a bugbear for creators, with strict limitations on what kinds of audio clips they’re able to include without getting their content de-monetized or removed completely. As such, this new process will be a welcome addition – though it’ll be interesting to see how music rights holders feel about their music potentially being attached to more controversial content as a result.

On that front, Meta says that all uploads in the program will need to satisfy Facebook’s monetization policies either way, including its Community Standards and music guidelines elements, while not every song will be available, only those that have been specifically approved and are available within its Licensed Music library.

Meta’s also added a new proviso into its Music Guidelines to cover commercial use:

“Use of music for commercial or non-personal purposes in particular is prohibited unless you have obtained appropriate licenses. Eligibility for, and participation in, Music Revenue Sharing does not by itself make a video commercial.”

So there are some restrictions to be aware of, which could still result in penalties in misuse.

For those that do meet the relevant qualifications, however, and adhere to the rules, creators will receive 20% revenue share on eligible videos, with a separate share going to rights holders and to Meta.

It could be a helpful addition, opening up new creative capacity, and monetization potential.

The full list of eligibility requirements for Music Revenue Sharing are:

• The Facebook video should be 60 seconds or longer and uploaded to a Facebook Page.
• The featured song must be covered in the Licensed Music library, which contains all eligible songs for Music Revenue Sharing.
• There must be a visual component in the video; the licensed music itself cannot be the primary purpose of the video.

Meta says that the new Music Revenue Sharing program will begin rolling out today to video creators in the US, before a global rollout ‘where music is available on Facebook’ in the coming months.