ICE and Facebook reach landmark multi-territory music licensing agreement

21 February 2018 - Press release

New deal will see songwriters and composers remunerated

 

ICE announced today that they have reached an agreement with Facebook for their first multi-territorial music licence with an online licensing and processing hub. The licence covers Facebook, Instagram, Oculus and Messenger and provides online music licensing for over 290,000 rightsholders, across 160 territories.

The deal signifies Facebook's commitment in working with the industry to ensure music rightsholders are accurately compensated for the use of their works. Facebook users will be able to add music from a catalogue containing millions of works to videos they create and share with their audiences.

Facebook's community continues to grow with more than 2.1 billion people now using the platform every month and 1.4 billion people using Facebook daily.

"We are delighted to continue deepening our relationship with music by partnering with ICE in a first-of-its-kind licensing deal. Facebook's journey with music is just beginning and we look forward to working with ICE and songwriters to build a community together around music." said Anjali Southward, Head of International Music Publishing Business Development at Facebook.

ICE will be working with Facebook during the ongoing development of its rights reporting systems to ensure accurate royalties data. ICE currently has over 40 online music licences in place with some of the world's largest music streaming platforms and has distributed over €300m to rightsholders since 2016.

"We are excited to work with Facebook to ensure we are delivering value back to creators for the use of their works on Facebook platforms. The future of music depends on our industries working together to enable the development of new models for music consumption in the digital age, to ensure a healthy future for songwriters and composers." said Ben McEwen, Commercial Director at ICE Services.

ICE, was established by PRS, STIM and GEMA to encourage collaboration between Collective Management Organisations (CMOs), music publishers and digital service providers to ensure composers and songwriters are compensated accurately and fairly for the use of their works.