Snapchat allows users to record music into their videos, but what about rights?

Snapchat, in an update that was rolled out without much fanfare this week, has introduced that ability for users to add a soundtrack to their videos by recording the music that is playing in the background on their phones.

The feature, which is a pretty neat idea and feels a bit like a hack, works with Spotify, iTunes and SoundCloud music. Simply leave the track you are listening to running, start Snapchat video recording and the music won’t stop playing like it used to, but will become part of that video.

There are some kinks to work out but overall it seems to be working pretty well. The real question mark here is around how and if the company plans to compensate artists for this usage. The resulting videos pose the same problems that homemade videos on YouTube with commercial soundtracks used to pose until the company came up with Content ID.

It is unclear so far whether the fact that the bulk of videos uploaded will only exist for a day before disappearing - when messages are between friends and not part of the new Stories feature - will affect the type of licenses Snapchat will require, but either way it won’t be long before rights holders come knocking.

Snapchat is currently focusing on entertainment and its new “Discover” feature has been well-received. The company is also rumoured to have a $500 million funding round in the works which would push the company’s valuation to around $16 billion.


(Andrea Leonelli)