I sat down with CBS news anchor Jessica Larche to give insight as an IP and Entertainment Attorney about Facebook banning music listening experiences as of October 1, 2020; including what the new policy means for music artists and DJs on the platform.

Basic copyright law dictates that only the owner of a creative work has the right to publish, distribute, and display the work. This includes music. Any time you are somewhere and hear music that bar, that concert hall, that store has paid a licensing fee to cover the costs associated with permissions to play music. Those fees are then distributed and paid to the various rights holders of the songs you heard.

However, Facebook and IG were never designed to be music sharing or music playing platforms. My best guess is that FB did not want to go down that route and so DJ’s get ready to take your audiences elsewhere because the virtual set days are looking about over on IG and FB Live.