Pinterest adds music from WMG, Merlin, BMG
Pinterest is expanding the music catalog available to users of its TikTok-like short video feature “Idea Pins” via new licensing deals with Warner Music Group, Warner Chappell Music, Merlin, and BMG.
Pinterest’s existing royalty-free music library comes via 7Digital.
In addition to the expanded music catalog now available on iOS and Android, Pinterest also rolled out a new music user experience to make it easier to find and add tracks to Idea Pins. It gives users the ability to search for a track by song title, artist, or keyword.
How To Add Music And Audio to Pinterest Idea Pins
To add music to Idea Pins:
● Open Idea Pins
● Click on the music icon
● Search track
● Add track
● Record
● Publish
In addition to adding music tracks to content, users can also tap a suite of existing publishing tools to make inspiring content:
● Video recording and editing for up to 20 pages of content
● Voice-over recording so creators can add their own personal voice
● Ghost mode transition tools (perfect for those before-and-afters!)
● Detail pages for instructions or ingredients
● Interactive elements like people tagging and stickers
● Multi-draft save so Creators can publish more ideas
● Export options to share content beyond Pinterest
● Topic tagging, a publishing feature that helps connect content to relevant interests
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 the Founder and President of the Skyline Artists Agency and a professor for the Berklee College Of Music.
This isn’t royalty-free. This just means the consumer won’t pay for the use of the music. And this means the big labels won again brokering deals with tech giants, and this pushes out any chance for the independent artist to get a piece of this revenue stream. Warner Music Group, Warner Chappell Music, Merlin, and BMG are getting something ($$$) for this licensing deal, and it means that small record labels like mine don’t have a chance either. Is there a future that looks different than this? How can we fight monolithic and monopolistic control of the music industry by major labels and tech giants? Is there a way for David to win against Goliath?