Facebook waives all live stream, subscription fees for 2 years

Facebook announced that it will waive live stream and fan subscription fees for at least two years.

“To help more creators make a living on our platforms, we’re going to keep paid online events, fan subscriptions, badges, and our upcoming independent news products free for creators until 2023,” wrote Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. “And when we do introduce a revenue share, it will be less than the 30% that Apple and others take.”

“We’re also launching a new payout interface so creators can see how different companies’ fees and taxes are impacting their earnings,” continued Zuckerberg.

No market leader

But given Facebook’s massive reach, the decision to waive fees is unlikely to help the majority of musicians. Recent data from Bandsintown shows that just 14.3% of all music live streams – paid or free – happen on Facebook.

Instagram is often used by artists for shorter, sometimes spontaneous broadcasts. But there is no real leader in the music live stream space with Twitch, StageIt, YouTube Mandolin, Nugs, Dice, VEEPS, and many others fighting for marketshare.

MORE: Bandsintown data shows in-person concerts returning much faster than predicted

Bruce Houghton is Founder and Editor of Hypebot and MusicThinkTank and serves as a Senior Advisor to Bandsintown which acquired both publications in 2019. He is also the Founder and President of the Skyline Artists Agency and a professor at the Berklee College Of Music online.