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TikTok backed down with strong wording statementaccusing the music label of putting “its own greed above the interests of its artists and composers.”
“Despite Universal’s false narrative and rhetoric, the fact is that they have decided to walk away from the powerful support of a platform with over a billion users that serves as a free vehicle of promotion and discovery for their talent,” he added.
Universal said contract negotiations with TikTok had focused on three main issues: compensation for artists and songwriters; the impact of artificial intelligence; and online safety for TikTok users. All music licensed by Universal will be removed from TikTok in the coming days.
He said the success of TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, “has been built in large part on the music created by our artists and songwriters,” and accused the platform of proposing to pay artists “a fraction of the fee they “It was situated in a similar way to the main companies.” “Social platforms pay.”
Other popular musicians represented by Universal They include Harry Styles, Billie Eilish, SZA, Bad Bunny and Ariana Grande. The musical company, which has its corporate headquarters in the Netherlands, has a vast catalog of recordings and songs dating back more than a centuryand includes brands such as “Def Jam Recordings” and “Abbey Road Studios”, with music by Coldplay, Kendrick Lamar and Bob Dylan on the books.
TikTok said it has been able to reach similar deals with other music labels. In July it reached a “multi-year, multi-product agreement” with the Warner Music Group.
Users can only use a maximum of 60 seconds of music in their video creations and cannot play full songs on TikTok.
Universal also said TikTok did not offer “meaningful solutions” to deal with online content that includes hate speech, bigotry, bullying and harassment on the platform. He also raised concerns about artificial intelligence, saying the platform was “flooded with AI-generated recordings” and tools to “encourage AI music creation on the platform itself.”
Such measures, he said, would “greatly dilute the royalty pool for human artists” and would be seen as “nothing less than sponsoring the replacement of artists by AI.” However, Universal added that it is eager to “embrace the promise of AI” but had to balance the technology’s potential with ensuring artists’ rights were fairly protected.
AI-generated music is increasingly making its way into the mainstream, with mixed results. In 2019, ByteDance bought AI music platform Jukedeck, which created tools that allowed users to modify music to match videos.
Universal said it recognized that music fans would lose out as a result of its decision not to renew the current deal. “But we have a primary responsibility to our artists to fight for a new agreement under which they receive adequate compensation for their work, on a platform that respects human creativity, in an environment that is safe for all and effectively moderated,” he added. . .