Facebook Music Streaming Service Tipped to Rival Apple Music, Spotify

Earlier this month, we had reported how the world's largest social network Facebook was apparently dabbling with video ads and sharing revenue with content creators, in a move that would compete with YouTube and its music videos. Building on this lofty ambition, a Music Ally report reveals that eventually Facebook might start its own music streaming service to compete with the likes of Apple Music, Spotify, and others.

The report by Music Ally ties in with reports from last week that said Facebook has been in talks with major music labels, such as Sony Music, Universal Music, and Warner Music. Music Ally adds that the audio music streaming service is in the initial stages of development but according to the unnamed source the social networking giant is only a few months away from the official launch of its ad-supported native videos, and music videos will benefit the most from this move.

An all-audio music streaming service is said to be in the works for a later launch, and then Facebook would be in direct competition with giants like Spotify, Pandora, and now Apple Music. The first phase will apparently see Facebook paying royalties for the artists who hold the rights to content. And it is being speculated that Facebook will be launching a system similar to YouTube's Content ID to help the artists either take down or 'claim' those user-uploaded videos which features their music (content). Apparently, Facebook will match YouTube's per-stream rates.

One source told Music Ally, "It's a mass land grab. Facebook going into the video space was always going to be an enormous, ambitious land grab and no doubt something they've been planning for some time as the potential income from ad revenue will be incredible."

Now the question is will Facebook, which has been spending heaps of money to acquire companies like WhatsApp, Oculus and Instagram, create its now streaming service or buy one?