Music licensing can be a real pain. Any online content creator will tell you how they’ve lost videos due to one or two music copyright strikes. However, music licensing isn’t just an issue for people using or enjoying tunes, but also those who make them.
Now, many are wondering what music licensing will be like when The Metaverse becomes mainstream. With companies like Warner Music Group already bringing music to the virtual world, how will it affect musicians?
It will be “challenging” to secure music rights in the metaverse
CrossBorderWorks CEO Vickie Naumann told Musically that musicians will have even more difficulty to boot with music rights. While things will be slightly easier for startup musicians, those that have signed deals with other companies might find themselves in a difficult position should they invest in the metaverse.
“There will be millions and millions of metaverses. I would like to have all of them fully licensed and fully legal, but the path to securing performance rights – especially if you have only one or two per cent of your business being in music, is really a big lift, and very challenging to secure those rights,” says Naumann.
Naumann does hope that things get better for music overall, given that she previously worked with David Guetta, and tried to end talks of metaverse music in a positive note. Get it? Note? Because music? Anyway, music licensing is set to be another exposition-filled slice of the music industry.
“While we’re experimenting with web3, we should really be experimenting with what these [licensing] norms are, and making sure we have a way to properly compensate the artist and the traditional stakeholders: labels, publishers and PROs,” she said.
Read More: Warner enters The Metaverse with music-themed Sandbox world
Licensing music in the metaverse
Naumann commented on the matter during the Sandbox Summit Web3 Special conference. Speaking with Music Ally, Naumann confirms that music copyrights will still apply and stressed that since some startups think there are no copyright laws in Web3.
“For web3, the licensing norms don’t really yet exist. We’re still figuring all those things out… We’re trying to take what we know in web2 and previous eras, and see how they apply to web3. But importantly, for all the startups that may be in the room, the copyright laws do still apply!” said Nauman.
Considering how unproven the metaverse continues to be, we’ll have to wait and see if this platform becomes a safe space for artists. However, don’t expect to freely use music on this or any other social media platform out there, it’s not worth it.