Social media giant, Facebook, has made plans of allowing users to charge for livestreams, which will provide a way for musicians and other creators to monetize their performances and events on the platform, the company announced this latest development of new payment last Friday, 24th April.
In an announcement titled “Introducing Messenger Rooms and more ways to connect when you’re apart,” the company says, “To support creators and small businesses, we plan to add the ability for Pages to charge for access to events with Live videos on Facebook, anything from online performances to classes to professional conferences.”
The company did not make known when that option will become available or provide further details, including whether there is a limit of charge a performer can place on, whether Facebook at its backend will be charging that fee; this is yet to be ascertained.
The company also announced that it will be expanding its “Stars” tipping system to musicians; in it, a performer can receive “tips” when users send them a “Star,” although with a $.01 tip per star, a bag of groceries will require a galaxy of “Stars.”
Facebook, along with Instagram Live (which it also owns), has become an easily approached platform for musicians’ livestreaming since the coronavirus lockdown has cancelled almost, if not every music tour in this pot called Earth. Monetizing those streams has not been any better option, except for donations to some certain non-profit organizations; Better Than Ezra’s Kevin Griffin managed to raise over $40,000 for MusiCares with a solo acoustic performance simply by clicking a box.
While livestreaming as a business is in its developing phases, musicians have found other ways to both monetize them and connect with fans, and it is rather apparent there is more to come in the subsequent months, as the coronavirus social distancing practices continues with no feasible date of resumption back to the normal concerts life.
