Facebook has signed a music licensing deal with London-based International Copyright Enterprise Operations (ICE) to provide royalty payouts on music the company represents, according to a report from TechCrunch. If you don’t know about ICE, they’re a European online rights hub with a catalog of about 31 million works. They represent STIM in Sweden, GEMA in Germany, PRS in the UK, and many more.
It’s worth mentioning that this is the first time the social media giant has signed a multi-territorial license with an online hub. The newly-signed deal will cover licensing and royalties whenever music represented by ICE is used on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Oculus. Missing from the list is WhatsApp, and that’s because the service is a private messaging tool that doesn’t require music licenses.
Facebook’s deal with ICE will cover 290,000 rights-holders across 160 territories. Per the agreement, ICE will be working with Facebook to help develop its rights reporting system to better accurately measure royalties data. Currently, ICE has over 40 online music licensing deals in place with several streaming platforms. Since 2016, ICE has distributed over 300 million euros to rights-holders.
In recent months, Facebook has struck several high-profile music licensing deals. The company signed an agreement with Sony Music that covers the use of music on Facebook, Instagram, and Oculus. Back in December, the company signed a licensing agreement with Universal Music Group. In addition to these, the company has signed deals with Kobalt Music Publishing, Global Music Rights (GMR), and SESAC’s HFA/Rumblefish.
