Kobalt, one of the world’s largest music publishers, has removed its entire catalog of 700,000 songs from Facebook and Instagram in the United States, a company representative confirmed to Variety.
The company’s US licensing agreement with Meta, the parent company of the two social media giants, has expired and the two parties have been unable to reach a new agreement. Kobalt manages music by artists such as Paul McCartney, The Weeknd, Foo Fighters, Childish Gambino, Finneas, co-writer Billie Eilish, The Chicks, Dierks Bentley, Beck and many others. The news was first reported by Music Business Worldwide.
According to an email Kobalt sent to the songwriters, “Over several months, we worked diligently and in good faith to reach an agreement covering a new license for Kobalt’s repertoire. Unfortunately, fundamental differences remain that we have not been able to resolve in their best interest, and as a result, Kobalt’s repertoire is in the process of being removed from Meta services, including Facebook and Instagram, in the United States. We have always stood up for songwriters first and are proud to continue to do so. We remain fully committed to reaching an agreement with Meta.” The accuracy of the email was confirmed by a company representative.
The move has strong ramifications, as Kobalt is one of the top 5 publishers in the world and generally has a higher quarterly share of global hits than some of the top 3. The company estimates it has a share of over 40% of the top 100 tracks and albums in an average week in the US and UK.
As noted by MBW, the move comes just days after another prominent music rights holder – Epidemic Sound of Sweden – filed a $142 million lawsuit against Meta in the US, alleging that “unauthorized use” of its works on Facebook and Instagram “is rampant.”
While these situations are usually resolved relatively amicably in a matter of weeks or months, with both sides continuing to operate under previous terms until new ones are agreed upon, it is rare for two such large companies to reach this point in such a music market. important. , let alone the largest in the world. According to its latest “Music in the Air” report, Goldman Sachs estimates that Facebook contributed 29% of all “emerging platforms” advertising revenue paid to the recorded music industry in 2021.
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