Thursday, August 4th, 2022

Instagram and Facebook Monetization

How to get the Zucc workin’ for YOU

Instagram Music and Facebook are where everything seems to be happening these days. So how do you make the most out of those platforms and use them to your advantage?

First thing’s first, you’re gonna want to upload music to Instagram and Facebook. We make this easy for you at Soundrop–Facebook/Instagram is just another platform you can add when you go to submit your music for distribution.

How does Facebook Monetization even work?

When your song is distributed to Facebook, their system makes a digital thumbprint of your audio file. Then, whenever someone uploads a video to the site, the video is automatically scanned through their whole library of thumbprints. If Facebook finds a match between the audio used in that video and the audio thumbprint of your song, they’ll automatically place a claim on that video for you, which means they’ll monitor the usage of your song and see how many plays it gets, then pay out to you per play with ad revenue.

Can all kinds of audio go to Facebook/Instagram?

Not everything is eligible for this service, unfortunately. Because the library of thumbprints is scanned by machine rather than by people, anything that could sound the same between two songs might confuse the scanning system. Let’s say you and a friend both released tracks using the exact same free-for-profit beat. If someone uploads a video using your track, it could get accidentally claimed as your friend’s because the audio thumbprints would be super similar. Then, your friend is getting paid out for your track! Some friend they turned out to be.

Soundrop has a whole list of audio types that are ineligible for Facebook distribution in our Help Center here, but basically, unless the sounds are 100% exclusive to your track, it’s probably not gonna be eligible. This means free-for-profit or licensed beats, backing tracks, loops, instrumentals, etc. are a no-go for Facebook/Instagram. While it’s a bummer, we hope you understand that it’s to protect the integrity of your music online and make sure all artists are getting paid what they deserve.

Now that’s Facebook monetization, but how do you monetize your music on Instagram?

When you distribute your music to Facebook/Instagram, while it goes to the automated claiming library on Facebook, it goes to the Instagram Music library on Insta. That means that anyone who wants to use your music in a post, story, or Reel can do so with the Music sticker in the app. Distributing your music to Instagram is a great way to boost your reach and discoverability: use your song in some Reels and watch it spread! I have absolutely found music on Instagram Reels or in friends’ stories that I’ve gone on to save on Spotify and listen to in other places. In both cases, the artist got paid and had a boost in listenership on multiple platforms.

Wanna start Reelin’ fans in? (sorry) Send your music to Facebook/Instagram with the click of a button on Soundrop.