Hey, YouTube: Looks Like Facebook Is About to Offer Official Music Videos

Facebook is reportedly preparing to launch officially licensed music videos.

At the time of this writing, Facebook hadn’t publicly confirmed the rumored introduction of licensed music videos. However, ample details offered by currently-circulating reports lend credibility to the idea of an imminent rollout ahead. A screenshot showcasing what Facebook-hosted music videos may look like is making the rounds presently.

Per these early reports, Facebook has emailed artist-page administrators instructions on how they can have licensed music videos automatically integrated into their pages. Essentially, automatic integration (reportedly for both artists’ own music videos and the music videos they appear in) hinges on granting Facebook permission to upload the content.

The entirety of artists’ official music video libraries will be automatically shared, provided that this permission is granted. Though artists will reportedly be able to tailor (including by deleting) the content in their pages’ “video” section and timeline after the fact. And once an artist has given the green light to the automatic-upload process, the leading social media platform will reportedly post subsequent music videos as they receive them from record labels.

Also worth noting is that Facebook higher-ups are encouraging artist-page administrators to enable automatic music video uploads prior to August 1st. Artists who don’t approve automatic uploads before then will reportedly see Facebook create (and operate) a separate page with all their music videos.

It’s unclear what the process of obtaining control of these Facebook-run pages will entail for artists who don’t agree to automatic uploads by next month’s start. But further details will presumably be released as part of the formal announcement concerning music videos.

On social media, fans are weighing in on Facebook’s approaching addition of music videos, and opinions appear mixed.

“ I don’t think I’ll be switching platforms from YouTube to an *even worse* platform,” wrote one skeptical individual.

“Yet another step closer to MySpace,” stated another Twitter user.

Earlier this month, we reported that Facebook had expanded its fan subscriptions to several new countries, paving the way for artists and other creators to enhance their earning potential and better connect with their followers. Needless to say, musicians will stand to gain even more from this monetization expansion if their official music videos become available to Facebook’s approximately 2.6 billion monthly users – especially if the platform can emerge as a true competitor to YouTube in the music video sphere.

More as this develops.