Just days after Facebook unleashed official music videos in the U.S., Snap Inc. provided details on a test of its own, still in the early stages.
Snap said it is working with music-industry partners including Merlin, members of the National Music Publishers Association, Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell and Warner Music Group on developing an extensive catalog for Snapchat.
A spokesperson for Snap said, “We’re constantly building on our relationships within the music industry and making sure the entire music ecosystem (artists, labels, songwriters, publishers and streaming services) are seeing value in our partnerships.”
The goal is for Snapchatters to be able to add music to their Snaps, pre- or post-capture, from a robust, curated catalog of tracks from emerging and established artists.
Once the feature is live, users who receive Snaps with music will be able to swipe up to see the album art, song title and artist, and a “Play This Song” link will open a web view via Linkfire, enabling them to listen to the full track via streaming platforms including Apple Music, SoundCloud and Spotify.
The Snap Inc. spokesperson said, “We’re always looking for new ways to give Snapchatters creative tools to express themselves. Music is a new dimension they can add to their Snaps that helps capture feelings and moments they want to share with their real friends.”
Merlin CEO Jeremy Sirota said in a statement, “Merlin is excited to partner with Snap given the unique role it can play in the evolution of social music. Merlin’s members have always been early adopters of innovation in the ever-changing digital ecosystem. We look forward to a productive relationship that offers users new ways to express themselves, enables artists to build new audiences and provides value to our members.”
NMPA president and CEO David Israelite added, “We are pleased to partner with Snap to ensure that great music can be used on its new service. Our agreement will bring an important new revenue stream to publishers and songwriters and improve the overall quality of the application for users. Snap is doing it the right way—licensing the music it needs before launching to the public.”
And WMG chief digital officer and executive vice president of business development Oana Ruxandra said, “We’re excited to be the first major partnering with Snap on this new feature. Both Warner Music and Snap have long track records of embracing innovation and experimentation and, working closely together, our goal is to enable cutting-edge social tools to bring our artists’ music to Snap’s highly engaged user base.”
