Facebook Launches Collab: A Collaborative Music Video App

Collab, Facebook’s innovative application designed for creating shared music videos, is now available to the public on the App Store, moving beyond its initial private beta phase. This app represents one of several experimental projects originating from Facebook’s internal research and development division, the NPE Team, which explores novel concepts that could shape the future direction of social media. Collab initially appeared in late May, coinciding with a period when stay-at-home measures prompted users to seek fresh forms of online entertainment.

The pandemic significantly impacted musicians, eliminating the opportunity for live performances—a crucial avenue for connecting with their audiences. Consequently, they embraced online platforms to conduct live-streamed concerts and collaborative jam sessions, maintaining those vital connections. Simultaneously, short-form video platforms, notably TikTok, gained prominence, introducing collaborative features such as duets and stitches, enabling users to integrate each other’s content.

Collab entered this landscape by merging the characteristics of short-form video with the collaborative elements of contemporary social media, but with a specific emphasis on musical creation.

Within the app, a “collab” consists of three separate 15-second video clips, arranged in layers and played simultaneously. As an illustration, a collaboration might feature a guitarist, a drummer, and a vocalist, each performing their part in sync within their individual videos. Users can contribute to a collab by recording alongside an existing video, or, for those without musical expertise, they can simply select different videos from the available options to populate the three layers.

Upon launching Collab, users are presented with a continuously updated stream of these “collabs,” which they can browse to discover content they wish to participate in or modify. Users can also save musicians they enjoy to receive notifications when new clips are posted, further tailoring their main feed.

Indie pop musician morgxn was among the artists participating in Collab’s beta program earlier this year.

“This year, I experienced being let go by my record label on the very same day that Billie Eilish publicly acknowledged my song ‘Home’ as an inspiration for her track ‘Bad Guy.’ So, I was facing a significant setback as we entered lockdown, while simultaneously receiving a surge of encouragement online.”

Morgxn chose to release his song “Wonder” on Collab, inviting fans to contribute by creating videos alongside him. The song has since accumulated 43 million streams, and a Spanish-language version emerged through the platform.

“If anything positive came from this year of disruption, it was a renewed inspiration to explore innovative approaches to everything I do,” morgxn explains. “Taking a chance can lead to something incredibly exciting, new, and fulfilling. That’s what brought me to Collab, and I’m enthusiastic about the possibilities.”

Throughout the beta period, Facebook refined the app’s audio synchronization and other technical functionalities.

The application is designed to manage the intricacies of audio and video alignment, providing tools to adjust clips and ensure perfect synchronization within the resulting “collab.” Facebook also rigorously tested Collab across a wide range of devices and configurations to optimize performance. Users can now integrate audio from electronic instruments, such as keyboards, guitars, and drum kits, directly into their recordings using external audio interfaces.

While Collab does not offer a direct link to Facebook, the company observes that musicians frequently include links to their other social media profiles—including Facebook or Instagram—in their bios. Furthermore, videos created within Collab can be shared to other platforms via the iOS sharing feature, enabling publication to Instagram Stories or even TikTok. These exported videos will include a watermark for proper attribution as they are distributed more broadly.

The underlying mechanics of Collab could potentially accommodate diverse types of mashed-up videos in the future—such as those featuring dance or comedic elements, which were observed during the beta. However, Facebook’s current focus remains firmly on music, according to Brittany Mennuti, Collab’s Product Lead.

Mennuti, whose academic background encompasses both Fine Arts and Business, leads a small team within Facebook comprised of creative professionals, including artists and musicians.

“I understood the importance of deeply immersing myself within the music community to develop this product—and that’s precisely what we did. We established a Facebook group for our beta testers, and we engage with them in that group on a daily basis,” she states. Within the group, musicians exchange questions, suggestions, and share their work. “Beyond assisting us in identifying their needs, the most remarkable aspect of this group is the genuine community that has formed—individuals who might never have collaborated musically are now connecting with one another.”

With its public launch, Facebook aims for Collab to establish a distinct position within the short-form video landscape, offering a unique experience beyond simply replicating platforms like TikTok’s Reels or Snap’s Spotlight. However, whether Collab will continue to operate as an independent entity, or ultimately be integrated into one of Facebook’s larger products, remains to be determined.

Collab is currently available in the App Store in the U.S.