Social networking giant Facebook on Monday signed an agreement with the Indian Performing Rights Society (IPRS) that allows it to license music by its members for content on its family of apps including photo-messaging platform Instagram. With over 195 million users, India makes up Facebook’s largest userbase in the world.
As part of the deal, that will provide a global platform to IPRS members, Facebook will be responsible for covering the licensing fees and royalties every time music by these Indian artists is used on its main app as well as on Instagram.
"With this agreement, people will be able to access a wide variety of music and discover new scores from hundreds of authors and owners, across various genres in many Indian languages", the media quoted Manish Chopra, Director and Head of Partnerships, Facebook India as saying on Monday.
This is the third time over the past couple of months that Facebook has shown an inclination towards the diverse Indian market.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently invested a whopping $5.7 billion for 9.99 percent stakes in the digital arm of Reliance Jio – the brainchild of Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani.
Earlier this month, Facebook also rolled out the new “Reels” feature on Instagram in India – that swooped up TikTok-missing Indian creators, giving them a new global platform to showcase their acting and dancing skills. The move came just days after India banned 59 Chinese apps including short video making app TikTok citing national security reasons.
"IPRS is excited to create opportunities for our songwriters and composers for their use of works on Facebook and its platforms", said veteran Bollywood lyricist Javed Akhtar, who is also the chairperson of IPRS.
