Blue takes on red once again this week as Facebook announces the trial of its potential new music video product, ‘Slideshow’; the latest challenger to YouTube’s domination of the online video market.

Facebook is currently in talks with music labels, including Warner Music Group, with a view to licensing a limited selection of songs, which users can then upload to their own videos using Slideshow.

Slideshows offer Facebook users a new way of sharing their favourite photos and videos, though only Facebook-owned music has been available to use alongside them up until now. This new agreement with music labels could enhance the appeal of the tool and attract new users to stay with Facebook when creating their video content.

The announcement comes just as YouTube is in the midst of a storm with key music industry figures, such as Irving Azoff and Nikki Sixx who are complaining that YouTube isn’t paying enough to artists for featuring their music. Facebook would therefore be at a significant advantage as it will be able to keep the music labels and artists happy while giving users access to a great selection of music.

All of this, when added to the prediction that online video consumption will grow by 57 per cent over the four years ending in 2017, means it is hardly surprising that Facebook is looking to make fresh inroads into the online video market and keep user-generated content within its own walls.

Mark Zuckerberg himself recently stated that, “we’re at the beginning of a golden age of online video” so it seems to be the perfect time to create new ways of hosting music and video content within the platform.

So, if all goes well, the video lovers among us will soon be able to upload some great new music to our videos and photo Slideshows on Facebook, allowing us to really get creative without worrying about licensing issues.

Here at Jam, we’re always looking for new ways to make our clients’ social video and photo content more engaging, so these new soundtrack options could help us do just that.

We may have to wait a little longer here in the UK, however, as they’re reportedly planning to launch Slideshow in Australia first. Watch this space!