When the COVID-19 pandemic put live events on indefinite hiatus, the music industry was forced to rapidly adapt. For most artists, this meant transitioning to live-streamed events, using social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitch. But in a newly announced set of rules—set to take effect on October 1—Facebook announced that musicians will not be allowed to “use videos on our Products to create a music listening experience.”
As for reasoning behind the new rule, Facebook—who also own Instagram—stated that they want their technology to be used to connect family and friends to one another, not to connect musicians to their fans. The tech company threatens video removal and possible account deletion as a penalty for failure to comply.
Facebook’s full statement in regards to music events is below:
You may not use videos on our Products to create a music listening experience
We want you to be able to enjoy videos posted by family and friends. However, if you use videos on our Products to create a music listening experience for yourself or for others, your videos will be blocked and your page, profile or group may be deleted. This includes Live.
Featured image: Nicholas LB via Unsplash
