No more music on Facebook and Instagram In Italy: SIAE blocks everything

If in these days you will find Facebook and Instagram videos without music, know that it is not a smartphone or computer bug but it is the result of the lack of agreement between SIAE e Meta. As communicated by a spokesman for the American company, it was not possible to renew the licensing agreement with the Italian Society of Authors and Publishers, and this entails the removal from the social platforms of the possibility of using the musical pieces of the artists they manage as background for videos, Reels and Stories.

Skip the agreement between SIAE and Meta: stop music on Facebook and Instagram in Italy

Since social networks have dominated the use of multimedia content, a bitter dispute has ignited between those who find it unfair that social networks such as Facebook and Instagram have access to millions of songs by rewarding artists in a form deemed incongruous. In Italy there is the SIAE to act as intermediary, but the clash between the parties has led to the non-renewal of the licenses necessary to ensure that the songs can be played on Meta’s social networks.

“The protection of the copyrights of composers and artists is a priority for us and for this reason we will start the procedure today to remove the songs of the SIAE repertoire in our music library“, says the Meta spokesman; that doesn’t mean that all the music will disappear, but only that of Italian artists protected by the SIAE, while it shouldn’t change anything for all the others. Furthermore, please note that Meta will continue to “strive to reach an agreement that satisfies all parties“; in the meantime, however, starting today all videos (including Reels and Stories) published on Facebook and Instagram with music protected by SIAE will be blocked and muted, giving the possibility to replace the track with others from the Meta library.

The answer also comes from SIAE, who affirms that of Meta was a “incomprehensible and one-sided choice“, that of blocking everything instead of fulfilling the requested agreement. According to the Italian body, Meta’s proposal is “devoid of any transparent and shared assessment of the actual value of the repertoire, in contrast with the principles enshrined in the Copyright Directive for which authors and publishers across Europe have fought hard”.