Can’t decide between Spotify, Apple Music and Tidal? Your choices are only going to get harder. Now Facebook is set to enter the music streaming race, with the social media giant reportedly planning to launch its own streaming service.
According to the music and tech news website Music Ally, which cites sources speaking off the record, Facebook is planning to follow its trial of native videos – videos that play only within Facebook, rather than on a parent site such as YouTube, and an experiment that is likely to include music videos – with an audio streaming service. Music Ally notes that “its plans to monetise music videos [are] an important stepping stone towards the on-demand audio service”.
Music Ally reports that the music video plans are advanced, with a launch likely within the next few months, at per-stream rates that will match YouTube. The launch of a streaming service is, apparently, further in the future, with the business model not yet finalised. Facebook is believed to want to get the video service right before branching into streaming.
Streaming has become an increasingly important part of music industry revenues. In 2014, 9% of worldwide digital revenues came from ad-supported streams, and 23% from subscription streams, according to the global industry body IFPI. The number of paying subscribers worldwide grew by 46.4% last year, with subscription revenues rising by 39%, making it the fastest growing revenue stream.
