New York, NY (Jan. 11, 2018) – We’re excited to announce that Facebook will partner with SESAC’s HFA/Rumblefish to streamline music licensing and administration for the independent publishing market.

HFA/Rumblefish has entered into an agreement with Facebook that enables the social media platform to provide social features that involve music across Facebook, Instagram and Oculus. Rumblefish will use its market leading solicitation platform to offer the U.S. independent music publishing community the opportunity to participate in Facebook’s music licensing arrangement. With the industry’s most comprehensive music publisher database, Rumblefish is uniquely positioned to support Facebook’s licensing and rights management operations as Facebook introduces music into its social features.

Scott Sellwood, Head of Commercial Music Publishing Partnerships, said “Facebook and SESAC’s HFA/Rumblefish are excited to offer the vibrant independent publishing community the opportunity to participate in a new licensing program with Facebook. The program will enable users to upload and share videos with music on Facebook, Instagram and Oculus and allows publishers to be compensated for the use of their music. Rumblefish will also help Facebook optimize the identification and clearance of musical works through an innovative data-sharing agreement. This partnership with HFA/Rumblefish and an opt-in for independent publishers opens as of today.”

“With our deep relationships and unparalleled reach to both the major and the indie publishing market, coupled with the most comprehensive service suite, Rumblefish is a natural partner for Facebook,” said Michael Simon, President, Rumblefish and HFA. “This alignment not only reinforces Rumblefish’s position as home to the world’s largest, most authoritative database of musical works linked to-recordings, but also our commitment to bring new licensing opportunities to the publishing market.”