Facebook is continuing a hiring spree focused on music, leading to increased speculation that the social media company will be branching beyond just status updates and Likes. There are three active job openings for Facebook. First is a a Label Music Business Development Lead, who would head up the strategy and negotiations for Facebook with music labels in addition to “collaborating with our product and media partnerships teams to ensure a coordinated and best-in-class licensing structure.” The other two open positions are North America Music Publishing Business Development Lead and International Music Publishing Business Development Lead.
Facebook recently hired industry veteran Tamara Hrivnak as a leader for its music strategy, so there is a clear focus in building a music team within the company. Despite the emphasis on music and audio in its recruiting efforts, though, Facebook has claimed that it is actually looking to double down on video. Several social media networks appear to see video as a revenue-generating option. Although Facebook did debut a native ad product, it’s centered on live broadcasting, which is not necessarily in line with the needs of podcasters and other audio companies.
I suspect that the music related positions are to strengthen Facebook’s video offering, as they already employ a copyright algorithm that filters video which are saved after a live session.
Radio stations I work with have found themselves falling foul of Facebook’s copyright engine, so these new hires maybe a means for Facebook to allow music in videos, whilst paying what they would see as a “fair rate” for copyrighted audio.
Facebook is no longer the same as social media.
We wish success to friends using Facebook