After announcing its new program for hosting exclusive music video clips earlier this month, Facebook has today unveiled it’s new ‘Music Video Playlists’ within Facebook Watch, which will increase the focus on Facebook-exclusive releases, coordinated in partnership with music labels.
With the launch, Facebook users will be able to follow their favorite artists, then receive the latest music video releases from those artists in their News Feed, as they go live. The “follow” option will be available not only on the artist’s Facebook Page, as before, but also directly from the music videos themselves.
By clicking through on the shared posts, fans will be directed to the artist’s Facebook Page, where they can browse the Videos tab to watch more officially licensed music.
The music video posts, like any on Facebook, can be shared, reacted to and commented on. They can also be shared across News Feed, where friends can discover the posts, as well as shared to Groups and in Messenger.
The new process will essentially enable publishers to maintain control over the video clips of their artists when posted to Facebook, including associated monetization. That will then give Facebook more capacity to arrange deals for such, which could lead to more musicians making Facebook a bigger focus for their releases.
And already, Facebook has a range of exclusives planned:
“In the coming weeks, we’re excited for global music video premieres happening on Facebook, including exclusive music video content from J. Balvin, Karol G, Sebastian Yatra, Alejandro Fernandez and Calibre 50. Fans can also expect the premiere of the official music video for a new track from Lele Pons on Facebook first, who will be going live in advance to connect with fans and build excitement.”
The videos are now one of several ways artists can connect with fans on Facebook, as the company had already rolled out tools that allowed artists to promote new releases with custom AR effects and Music Stickers, host live-streamed Q&As on Facebook Live and raise money for important causes through the donate button in Live and Stories.
“Artist/Fan connection on Facebook is deeper and more authentic because of tools like Stories, Live and custom AR effects. Official music videos are re-born in that setting — they become part of the way people express identity and mood and bring a new dimension to the artist storytelling that happens on our apps every day,” said Tamara Hrivnak, VP of Music Business Development and Partnerships at Facebook.