Music venue hits out at new Facebook subscription

An independent music venue has said it will "absolutely not" pay for a new subscription service to promote its events on Facebook.

Meta, which owns the platform as well as Instagram, has started a new subscription called Meta One which limits the number of website links that can be posted - any more than two - unless a fee is paid.

Jack Heffernan, marketing manager for The Robin in Bilston, said the venue would have to pay £370 to keep posting as it currently does.

He said it would not be an issue for big businesses but really impacted smaller ones. The BBC has contacted Meta for a response.

The new subscription sets out various fee categories ranging from $15 [£11] a month to $500 [£376].

Heffernan said he was aware changes were being made by Meta and the idea had been "floated around" since December, but did not think they had been that transparent about it.

"We came in, began clearing up from the weekend, started scheduling some content and videos from the shows over the weekend and then all of a sudden 'you can't post this link'," he said.

"I thought 'oh, that's confusing?'. Looked into it and looked at the overall costs so I know what I'm dealing with, then when I came to see how much we would have to pay to post all of our links that we post... we'd have to pay for the largest package which is $500."

He said the move would affect lots of people and could "see it being the standard going forward", also impacting individuals in the future.

The venue would "absolutely not" pay the £370, he added.

"The average UK small business already pays between £500 to £3,000 per month of Facebook ads, so why should we then be forced to pay more?"

He said it was a case of "wait and see" what the impact on them would be as everybody "was in the same boat".

Matt Navarra, a social media analyst from Geekout Newsletter, said the fees were not yet universal, with subscriptions currently aimed at professional creators and businesses who get the option of posting links on Instagram, a new feature.

"But it is going to hurt smaller businesses - the likes of Coca Cola isn't going to be bothered about paying $300 or $400 a month whereas somebody who has got a corner shop or hair salon is going to feel the pinch."

He said Meta was testing whether being able to post more links makes its paid subscriptions more valuable, while also looking for new recurring revenue streams as it had been spending an "extraordinary amount" of money on AI "to keep up in the race to win the AI war" which amounted to almost $145bn so far.

Heffernan said the venue was well established and had a large following including other social media platforms, but Facebook and Instagram worked the best for its audience.

"It's quite a scramble for people to find out 'is there a way round it?" he added.

"Essentially they've taken out free features from the platform, including verification posts and links, and they're just selling it back to you."

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