Facebook is believed to be launching a streaming service to compete with the likes of Spotify and Apple, according to reliable and reputed sources in the UK.
The service is apparently linked to the trial roll-out of Facebook's “suggested video” feed, which was confirmed by AdNews last week.
It is believed that music companies are in advance discussions with Facebook about supplying video content for the feed, which would ultimately be tied to a wider music platform offering on-demand streaming and radio.
It is also understood that, like the “suggested video” feed, brands and media companies advertising on the platform would benefit from a revenue share deal.
A spokesperson for Facebook told AdNews last week: “We’re running a new suggested videos test, which helps people discover more videos similar to the ones they enjoy. Within suggested videos, we will be running a monetisation test where we will show feed-style video ads and share revenue with a group of media companies and video creators.”
Facebook has been notoriously quiet about its music ambitions, allowing other big players such as Google and more lately Apple to make strides in the market place. Twitter has also appointed a music team, although its mooted plans are yet to come to fruition.
A big question mark hangs over whether Facebook will opt to build a music platform in-house, or whether it will make yet another acquisition to bolster its product offering.
Some reports suggest that smaller streaming outfits such as Rdio could be on the block, offering Facebook easy entry into the market. Facebook paid $19bn for messaging app WhatsApp, $2bn for virtual reality startup Oculus VR and $1bn for photo-sharing app Instagram.
“It’s a mass land grab. Facebook going into the video space was always going to be an enormous, ambitious land grab and no doubt something they’ve been planning for some time as the potential income from ad revenue will be incredible,” one source told Music Ally journalist Eammon Forde in the UK.
Sources at Facebook and Rdio could not be reached at time of press.
Email Nicola at nicolariches@yaffa.com.au.