Universal Music Group has inked a first-time licensing deal with Meta to allow music from the major label’s artists to be uploaded to WhatsApp and shared without violating copyright ownership.
The move is part of an expanded global licensing agreement, first signed in 2017, to have UMG artists and songwriters continue placing copyrighted music across Meta’s platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Horizon and Threads.
As part of the agreement renewal, UMG artists and songwriters will receive a slice of advertising revenue from the use of licensed music on Meta creator posts.
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The addition of licensed music to WhatsApp will come as UMG, led by CEO Lucian Grainge, continues to thwart unauthorized music, especially AI-generated content, infringing on the rights of the company’s artists and songwriters.
Michael Nash, chief digital officer and executive vp UMG, in a statement said: “We are delighted that Meta shares our artist-centric vision for respecting human creativity and compensating artists and songwriters fairly. We look forward to continuing to work together to address unauthorized AI-generated content that could affect artists and songwriters, so that UMG can continue to protect their rights both now and in the future.”
The expanded deal between UMG and Meta follows the social media giant allowing licensed music content on its platforms, rather than launching its own subscription-based streaming service like Apple Music and Spotify.
UMG in May 2024 reached a new music licensing deal with TikTok that ended a dispute over royalties to be paid out around the social media platform. Licensing deals with social media giants also aim to compensate artists and songwriters for the use of artificial intelligence online and elsewhere in the entertainment industry.
