More on Facebook Music

Following on from Beatrice's post about Facebook Music, I decided to sign up for an account. At first it seems just like signing up for any other online distribution site requiring users to submit email address, band bio, images etc. But when I finalised all the personal details and was ready to sit down and experience the tedium that is uploading MP3s (**see my bonus little rant about this below) when Facebook asks me to "verify my account". What does this mean?

Well, in what I'm seeing as an ultimate step in copyright paranoia, Facebook asks you to submit an electronic image file (i.e. JPG, GIF or PNG) of some legal documentation that proves your identity (i.e. driver's licence, passport):

For legal reasons, Facebook can only authorize you to upload music to your Page if you verify that you formally represent INfest8. Please upload a valid form of legal identification (only passports, photo drivers licenses, or school IDs will be accepted) that identifies you as Steve Collins. You can upload a JPG, GIF or PNG file.

Why is this required?
In order to upload music to your Page, we need you to submit a valid form of identification that identifies you, the admin of the Page. By submitting a valid form of identification, you are confirming that you either own the copyright to the content you will be uploading or that you are authorized by the copyright owner to upload that copyrighted content to your Page. Please note that you can black out any sensitive information on your identification if you wish, other than your name and picture. We currently only accept photo passports, school IDs, and drivers licenses.

I guess that their trying to cover their backs from the outset so they don't run afoul of those poor old boys and girls in the RIAA.

EDIT: I should probably add that this verification process takes two business days. I assume that means that someone has to sit and go through every submission. Reminds me of when MP3.com used to vet each song for unlicensed samples - I ran afoul of that a few time myself.

**Having been using online distribution sites since 1998 I've signed up with many of them and every time I have to go through the tedious exercise of uploading the same tracks over and over again. What would be nice and probably more cost effective when it comes to server space, would be to have a central repository for MP3s that can just be linked to whatever social networking/distribution site you want to sign up with. Meh!