Warner Music Inks Multi-Year Meta Pact, Including WhatsApp
Photo Credit: Mariia Shalabaieva
Warner Music Group inks a multi-year licensing deal with Meta, including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Horizon, Threads — and for the first time, WhatsApp.
Warner Music Group (WMG) has inked a new multi-year licensing deal with Meta, according to a new report from Billboard. The partnership covers both Warner’s recorded music and Warner Chappell publishing operations, across all of Meta’s platforms, including, for the first time, WhatsApp.
The deal will also come with additional promotion and marketing support for Warner’s artists and songwriters, and includes an agreement involving the two companies working together to continue discussions about generative AI content on all Meta platforms. Representatives for both Meta and WMG confirmed the news to Billboard.
“We’re pleased to have renewed our deal with Meta, expanding opportunities for artists and songwriters across all their platforms, and furthering our discussions on the potential of AI,” said a spokesperson for WMG. Meta launched its AI initiative in the past year, and asserts it has 400 million people using it monthly.
This latest deal follows the previous renewal between Meta and WMG, which former WMG CEO Stephen Cooper announced in an earnings call back in August 2022. During that call, he stressed the deal involved an “expanded revenue sharing model.” Warner had also inked deals with Meta and Facebook in both 2018 and 2020.
WMG CEO Robert Kyncl and Atlantic artist FKA Twigs both testified before the US Senate in April to support legislation to regulate AI deepfakes. Last November, Kyncl also presented WMG’s “three-pronged approach” to AI on a call with financial analysts, including tracking and licensing genAI, helping to monitor and monetize genAI music on DSPs like Spotify and YouTube, and meeting regularly with politicians and regulators to ensure the legal framework “respects the creative industries.”
The newest deal also comes on the heels of Universal Music Group’s similar expanded global agreement with Meta, which also included WhatsApp.
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