Facebook To Add Ability to Charge for Live Streams

Since the pandemic hit and the quarantine decimated live music, many players have been taking to Facebook to live-stream performances. So far they’ve been relegated to asking for donations for their work, but now it looks like the social media giant will be offering a way for artists to charge for their streams. The list of new Facebook Live features include “Live With” to add another speaker to your video, a donate button, and the option for audio-only.

“You’ll be able to mark Facebook Events as online only and, in the coming weeks, integrate Facebook Live so you can broadcast to your guests,” Facebook shared. “To support creators and small businesses, we plan to add the ability for Pages to charge for access to events with Live videos on Facebook – anything from online performances to classes to professional conferences.”

Details on the new features are still slim. Facebook says users can expect them “in the coming weeks” along with Messenger Rooms, which is an expansion of Facebook Messenger to allow for video conferencing. We’ll keep you updated as more information becomes available.