Facebook declined to comment on its video plans, which were first reported in detail by Billboard. But the company directly denied another report from Music Ally, a news site, that said Facebook was working on a streaming service comparable to Apple Music or Spotify. "We have no plans to go into music streaming," a Facebook representative said.  Review:No Song Left Unsung, Grateful Dead Plays Its Last ReinventingGoogle for a Mobile World Yahooto Enter Fantasy Sports Market  Facebook's plans are said to still be in an early stage. But its talks with record companies highlight the company's eagerness to expand its video offerings and compete more aggressively with YouTube, the online video giant whose most popular content is music videos. Given Facebook's vast size — it has 1.4 billion users around the world — it is one of the few online outlets that could seriously challenge YouTube's dominance, media executives say.  Facebook has offered the music labels better revenue-sharing deals than YouTube, according to one of the people briefed on the talks. In another enticement to the labels, Facebook is also promising to police the platform more thoroughly for unauthorized content, this person added.  Read MoreTaylor Swift decides to put '1989' album on Apple music  Music is just the latest video-related frontier for Facebook. For months, the company has been urging outside publishers like BuzzFeed, Vice, CNN and ESPN to publish original videos directly to its platform, and it has been satisfied with letting those publishers post the clips on sites like YouTube and Vimeo and then link to them on Facebook. It has also encouraged its users to upload their own videos.  But by building up its own video platform, Facebook could keep users within its system and also capture more advertising revenue. So far, its strategy seems to be working: Facebook had an estimated 315 billion video views in the first quarter of 2015, according to Ampere Analysis, an independent video analytics firm.  If Facebook were able to build a stronger presence for music videos, it would put pressure on YouTube, which is owned by Google and has long had a complex relationship with the music industry.
Facebook has held preliminary discussions with the major record companies, seeking music video licensing deals, according to sources. NYT reports.