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Barring a last-minute deal, the music of Taylor Swift and other Universal Music Group artists may disappear from TikTok. UMG said in an open letter that its negotiations to renew the licensing agreement with the popular short video platform were unsuccessful and that the license expires tonight.
UMG said three “critical issues” have led to their impasse, including “adequate compensation for our artists and songwriters, protecting human artists from the harmful effects of AI, and online safety for TikTok users.” .
“TikTok proposed paying our artists and songwriters a fee that is a fraction of the fee paid by major social platforms in similar situations,” the letter explains.
“Ultimately, TikTok is trying to build a business based on music, without paying a fair value for the music,” he concluded.
An interesting twist is that TikTok allows AI recordings to circulate among its content and also allows users to create AI music on the platform itself.
UMG claims that such an allocation “massively dilutes the royalty pool for human artists, to an extent that is nothing short of sponsoring the replacement of artists by AI.”
TikTok issued a statement in response to complaints on Tuesday, accusing UMG of “greed” and prioritizing money over the best interest of its artists.