TikTok users may be disappointed with the following news.
Universal Music Group, one of the largest music companies in the world, has announced it has failed to reach new deal terms with the social media platform over issues including artist compensation and AI.
UMG has revealed that its agreement with TikTok is set to expire on January 31.
UMG, the world’s biggest music company, says they will remove their artists’ music from TikTok this Wednesday when their contract expires after failing to reach a new agreement with the platform.
They have failed to reach an agreement on fair compensation and AI protections. pic.twitter.com/tg2OUPUehv
— Pop Base (@PopBase) January 31, 2024
According to Variety, UMG wrote in a statement: “The companies have not agreed to terms for a new agreement and upon expiration of the current agreement, Universal Music Group, including Universal Music Publishing Group, will cease licensing content to TikTok and TikTok Music services.”
The label includes music from artists such as Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny, Sting, The Weeknd, Alicia Keys, SZA, Steve Lacy, Drake, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar, Rosalía, Harry Styles, Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Adele, U2, Elton John, J Balvin, Brandi Carlile, Coldplay, Pearl Jam, Bob Dylan and Post Malone.
TikTok has responded and since said: “It is sad and disappointing that Universal Music Group has put their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters.”
“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.”
“TikTok has been able to reach ‘artist-first’ agreements with every other label and publisher. Clearly, Universal’s self-serving actions are not in the best interests of artists, songwriters and fans.”
Our core mission is simple: to help our artists & songwriters attain their greatest creative and commercial potential, which is why we must call time out on TikTok.
Learn More: https://t.co/yJDQ7FdgNc pic.twitter.com/Lhluz1ez5H
— Universal Music Group (@UMG) January 31, 2024
UMG posted an open letter on Tuesday with the headline, Why We Must Call Time Out on TikTok.
In the letter, the music company called the platform “an increasingly influential platform with powerful technology and a massive worldwide user base.”
UMG said that in its contract renewal discussions with TikTok, it has “been pressing them on three critical issues — appropriate compensation for our artists and songwriters, protecting human artists from the harmful effects of AI, and online safety for TikTok’s users.”
It continued by claiming that TikTok “proposed paying our artists and songwriters at a rate that is a fraction of the rate that similarly situated major social platforms pay.”
“Ultimately TikTok is trying to build a music-based business, without paying fair value for the music,” the letter alleged.
Regarding the issue of artificial intelligence, it claimed TikTok “is allowing the platform to be flooded with AI-generated recordings — as well as developing tools to enable, promote and encourage AI music creation on the platform itself — and then demanding a contractual right which would allow this content to massively dilute the royalty pool for human artists, in a move that is nothing short of sponsoring artist replacement by AI.”
According to UMG, when it proposed that TikTok take similar steps as other digital platform partners to try to address these issues, “it responded first with indifference, and then with intimidation.”
The letter then claimed: “As our negotiations continued, TikTok attempted to bully us into accepting a deal worth less than the previous deal, far less than fair market value and not reflective of their exponential growth.”
