Meta Secures Deal With Universal Music Group To Protect Artists From AI-Generated Content

Meta has entered into a global, multi-year partnership with Universal Music Group (UMG), marking a significant expansion of their ongoing collaboration. This agreement is designed to enhance the creative and commercial opportunities for UMG artists and Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) songwriters across Meta’s suite of platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Horizon, Threads, and, for the first time, WhatsApp.

A key focus of this partnership is the protection of human creators and their artistry, ensuring that artists and songwriters receive fair compensation. As part of their comprehensive collaboration, Meta and UMG will continue to tackle the challenges posed by unauthorized AI-generated content, among other issues affecting the music industry.

Building on Past Successes

This new deal builds upon the foundation laid by the original 2017 agreement between Meta and UMG. That earlier agreement marked a pivotal moment in the relationship between the music industry and social media, as UMG became the first major music company to license its recorded music and publishing catalogues across Facebook’s platforms. In doing so, Facebook established itself as the first fully licensed social media partner for the music industry.

Since then, Meta’s platforms have served as vital spaces for artists and songwriters to engage directly with their audiences, fostering deeper connections and expanding their reach. Over the years, Meta and UMG have collaborated on innovative ways to integrate licensed music across the Meta ecosystem, including Facebook, Instagram, virtual reality experiences with Meta Quest and Horizon, user-generated content, live streaming, and other Meta products.

Expanding Opportunities

The renewed agreement opens up even more monetization opportunities for UMG, its artists, and songwriters, particularly through the use of short-form videos. Additionally, UMG and Meta have extended their partnership to include music licensing for WhatsApp, offering new avenues for UMG artists and songwriters to derive value from their work.

Meta’s Perspective

Tamara Hrivnak, Vice President of Music and Content Business Development at Meta, expressed enthusiasm about the continued partnership: “We are thrilled to announce our renewal with Universal Music Group and Universal Music Publishing Group, both of whom are innovators for music on social media, particularly within Meta’s family of apps. This partnership underscores the power of music to connect people and bring fans, artists, and songwriters closer together—not only on established platforms like Instagram and Facebook, but also in exciting new ways on WhatsApp and beyond. We’re deeply grateful to the Universal team and look forward to growing our partnership in the future.”