Facebook is paying musicians up to $50,000 to use its Clubhouse clone feature – Live Audio Rooms.
Back in July, CEO Mark Zuckerberg promised that his company would establish a $1 billion creator fund to pay talent through 2022. Now a new report from The Information details how some of that money is being spent. Facebook is paying musicians up to $50,000 to use Live Audio Rooms.
“Facebook is offering to pay musicians and other creators $10,000 to $50,000 per session on its five-month-old live audio product, plus a fee for guests of $10,000 or more,” the report reads. Facebook reportedly wants to establish a relationship with creators to host four to six sessions that are at least a half-hour in length or more.
Facebook’s Live Audio Rooms feature launched in June for users in the United States. It’s positioned alongside other audio-oriented products from Facebook, including podcasts, music, and ‘Soundbites.’
The platform isn’t the only one attracting talent with deep pockets, either. TikTok, Snap, Twitter, and YouTube all have some type of creator fund that pays out, just not as much as Facebook (and parent company Meta).
Which social media platforms pay musicians & artists?
- Facebook – The platform is paying ‘up to’ $50,000 to musicians who agree to the terms outlined above.
- TikTok – TikTok established a creator fund with $70 million to offer payouts to creators who use the platform. TikTok committed to increasing that fund to $300 million and opening it to more countries.
- Snapchat – Snapchat introduced Spotlight Challenges to its community of creators to encourage the use of new features on the platform. The company started by paying one million dollars per day, but lost creators after ending the big payouts in May 2021.
- Twitter – Twitter launched its Spark Program to discover and reward Twitter Spaces creators with “technical, financial, and marketing support.” Those who apply to the program and get accepted receive a stipend of $2,500 a month to create content and $500 in monthly ad credits to promote shows.
- YouTube – Even YouTube has a creator fund for artists who use its YouTube Shorts feature. The $100 million fund will be distributed over 2021-2022 to anyone who uses the YouTube Shorts feature.
As you can see, there are numerous social media companies willing to pay creators to use their platforms. Meta-owned Facebook has deep pockets to offer creators for its Live Audio Rooms – which is certainly more than Clubhouse can offer.
Somebody actually paying musicians? Oh, come on! This must be a mistake! Why would anybody pay musicians for their music when all music is free on the Internet!
It happens all the time. MP3.com started it off when Napster was ripping people off. MP3 had a model that paid out artists based on their likes, plays, and more and some artists (Ernesto Cortezar, for one), netted tens of thousands each month.
Where’s the link to read the contract?
If it ain’t in the contract, and you may need an Entertainment Lawyer to read it, it ain’t binding.
Many people are not adept at reading a contract and realizing what’s ‘not’ in it.
A reversion clause, for example, saying when ownership of Publishing Royalties Rights return to the Song-Writer. In a Publishing contract the Song-Writer ‘assigns’ that ownership to the Publishing Company. It’s their incentive to do the work of getting the Song ‘Cut’ and ‘Released’, where it can earn Songwriting Royalties and Publishing Royalties.
The contract with these tech Companies might also transfer Royalty rights to the Companies, for a specified period, or in perpetuity. The transfer may revert ownership to the Song-Writer, who can then, and only then, market it again. Or it may mean they own ‘it’, whatever ‘it’ is, Song-Writing Royalties, Publishing Royalties, and the Song-Writer no longer has any ownership or say in how the music is used.
Unless you read the contract, and know what you’re reading, you don’t know what the ‘deal’ is. Is it good for you? Bad for you? You don’t know. That one-time payment might be fine. Walk away with $50,000. Or you may be selling a million dollar Intellectual Property (IP) for a fraction of its worth. IP can be automatically inherited by your heirs, if Federal Copyright Law hasn’t changed, and that ownership be of value for their lifetime too.