Universal Music Group plans to remove TikTok song catalog

Image credits: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images

Universal Music Group (UMG), the label that represents artists such as Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and Ariana Grande, says it will remove its music from TikTok at midnight tomorrow after failing to reach a deal with the platform’s parent company, ByteDance. , about royalties. .

UMG will not seek to renew its current agreement with TikTok, which is set to expire on January 31, and plans to stop licensing content to both TikTok and its music-focused service, TikTok Music.

In a press release, UMG accused TikTok, which reportedly earned nearly $20 billion in advertising revenue last year by trying to build a “music-based business without paying fair value for (artists’) music.”

“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 label said. wrote. “Today, as an indication of how little TikTok compensates artists and songwriters, despite its huge and growing user base, its rapidly increasing advertising revenue, and its increasing reliance on music-based content, TikTok represents only about 1% of our total revenue.”

TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

As UMG says in the press release, TikTok and they disagreed on payments for AI-generated recordings using UMG properties. Additionally, TikTok was not taking adequate steps to quickly remove content that violated the label’s copyright, UMG says.

“Ultimately, TikTok is trying to build a business based on music, without paying fair value for the music,” UMG wrote.

UMG’s current deal with TikTok dates back to 2021 and covers recorded music from artists on UMG’s labels and songwriters associated with Universal Music Publishing Group. As part of the deal, UMG and TikTok agreed to experiment with new features, such as allowing users to embed clips from UMG’s entire music catalog spanning Bad Bunny, SZA, Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Harry Styles, Justin Bieber, Adele, U2 and Elton John.

UMG’s fallout comes as TikTok leans more toward creating and curating music.

The platform is positioning TikTok Music, which launched last year in select countries, as a serious rival to Spotify and Apple Music. Meanwhile, TikTok is testing an “AI Song” feature that uses AI to create songs based on prompts users enter.

While TikTok has shown a willingness to engage with certain labels on terms it considers favorable, the platform was reportedly in talks with Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and UMG “year-round” in 2022 and 2023 for a portion of their advertising revenue; He has had no qualms about exerting his influence wherever he sees fit. Last February, TikTok removed music from major record companies from its service for a subset of users in Australia in an apparent test to see how user engagement would be affected.

Recently, TikTok has sought to sign exclusive distribution deals with musicians for ByteDance’s SoundOn service, which distributes directly to TikTok and music streaming services. He also launched a program, called Elevate, designed to identify the next wave of rising artists in the music industry.