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Allen J. Schaben | Los Angeles Times | fake images
Universal Music Group said Wednesday it will stop licensing its music to TikTok and accused the short-form video giant of harassment and bullying in its contract negotiations.
A music licensing deal between UMG and TikTok, owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, expired on Wednesday and no new terms have been agreed upon. This means that UMG could remove its music catalog from TikTok.
UMG said in an open letter published Wednesday that it has been “pressuring” TikTok during contract discussions on three issues: “adequate compensation for our artists and songwriters, protecting human artists from the harmful effects of AI, and online safety for TikTok users.” “
The music label, which represents megastars from Taylor Swift to Drake, said TikTok proposed paying its artists and songwriters “at a rate that is a fraction of the rate paid by major social platforms in similar situations.” UMG said only 1% of its total revenue comes from TikTok, despite the social network’s “massive and growing user base, rapidly increasing advertising revenue and growing reliance on music-based content.”
UMG also alleged that TikTok is allowing its platform to be “flooded with AI-generated recordings,” in addition to developing tools to “enable, promote and encourage AI music creation.” According to UMG, TikTok is “demanding a contractual right that would allow this content to massively dilute the royalty pool for human artists, in a move that is nothing short of sponsoring AI’s replacement of artists.”
The music industry has been grappling with the rise of artificial intelligence, which can generate music and even imitate the voices of big artists.
UMG also said TikTok “makes little effort to deal with the large amounts of content on its platform that infringes” on artists’ music.
The label accused TikTok of harassment and intimidation tactics in contract negotiations.
“When we proposed that TikTok take similar steps as our other platform partners to try to address these issues, they responded first with indifference and then with intimidation,” UMG said.
“As our negotiations continued, TikTok attempted to bully us into accepting a deal that was worth less than the previous deal, far less than fair market value, and does not reflect its exponential growth. How did it attempt to bully us? By selectively removing music from some of our developing artists, while keeping our audience-driving global stars on the platform.”
TikTok responded to UMG’s allegations on Wednesday.
“It is sad and disappointing that Universal Music Group has put its own greed above the interests of its artists and songwriters,” the company said in a statement.
“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.”
TikTok said it has been able to reach “artist-first deals with all other labels and publishers.”
Last year, the company signed a music licensing deal with Warner Music Group.