Songs by Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, And Others Could also be Faraway from TikTok
The right song can set the mood of any good piece of social media content. But for TikTok users, their choice in discography may prove to be more limited moving forwards, after contract negotiations broke down between the social media giant and one of the world’s largest recording companies.
Universal Music Group, representing some of the world’s most recognisable names in the music industry, is reportedly threatening to pull their entire music catalogue from TikTok after discussions concerning issues with artist compensation and AI use on the platform failed to yield fruit.
Universal Music Group may remove its entire music catalogue from TikTok
Claiming that the Bytedance-backed application attempted to ‘bully’ them into terms that were worth less than their previous arrangement, the music giant now claims that they will not be renewing their licensing agreement with TikTok, reports Billboard.
The previous licensing contract between both companies is set to expire today (January 31st, 2024). By effect, this will mean that popular songs by artists including Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, The Weeknd, Coldplay, Adele, Post Malone, and many others, will no longer be available to users on the popular social media app if UMG elects to withdraw their intellectual properties from it.
In response to UMG’s decision, TikTok has issued a statement on the matter describing the move as one motivated by ‘greed’. “It is sad and disappointing that Universal Music Group has put their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters.” They added that “Despite Universal’s false narrative and rhetoric, the fact is they have chosen to walk away from the powerful support of a platform with well over a billion users that serves as a free promotional and discovery vehicle for their talent.”
Prior to the withdrawal of their catalogue, UMG penned an open letter ‘to the artist and songwriter community’, to ‘call time on TikTok’. In it, three concerns were underscored as being key to the negotiation process: rightful and fair compensation for their artists, protection of human artists against the harmful effects of artificial intelligence, and for the online safety of users on TikTok.
On the subject of bottom lines, they claimed that TikTok would only compensate them with less than a fraction of the rate expected from similarly positioned competing social platforms, despite their growing audience base and advertising revenue. It was also alleged that the Chinese tech giant responded with both ‘indifference’ and ‘intimidation’ when asked to address issues raised by UMG.
The licensing partnership between UMG and TikTok was first inked back in February of 2021.
Feature and hero image credits: Alexander Shatov/Unsplash, Solen Feyissa/Pexels
This story first appeared on Lifestyle Asia Kuala Lumpur
Source: Prestige Online
