[ad_1]
Music from Taylor Swift, Drake, Olivia Rodrigo, among many others, will disappear from TikTok at the end of Wednesday unless the social media giant can reach a deal with Universal Music Group.
TikTok’s estimated 1.5 billion monthly users can enhance their videos with music from major record label catalogs, making it an important part of the modern music ecosystem. But UMG said in a statement early Wednesday that it was pulling its tracks due to a lack of compensation for artists and songwriters.
“TikTok proposed paying our artists and songwriters a fee that is a fraction of the fee paid by major social platforms in similar situations,” UMG said.
TikTok, owned by Chinese company Bytedance, responded early Wednesday with its own scathing response, accusing the music company of putting “its own greed before the interests of artists and songwriters.”
UMG said TikTok only accounts for 1% of its advertising revenue, even though its artists account for 8 in 10 of the platform’s most popular bands and singers in 2023. About 60% of TikTok videos include music.
Dutch-American-owned UMG, which has no relationship with NBC Universal, the parent company of NBC News, is one of the so-called “Big Three” global music companies. Their licensed artists include The Beatles, Elton John, Bob Dylan, U2, Ariana Grande, SZA, Billie Eilish, Adele, Coldplay and many more.
in a open letter to his artists Titled “Why We Should Call Timeout on TikTok,” UMG said: “Ultimately, TikTok is trying to build a business based on music, without paying fair value for the music.”
UMG added that it was concerned about the growth of artificial intelligence tools used in TikTok videos and its effect on intellectual property, while complaining about the amount of content infringing on copyright, as well as “a wave of hate speech, intolerance, harassment and aggression.”
“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,” UMG said.
UMG also alleges that TikTok attempted to intimidate it by “selectively removing music from certain of our developing artists,” while maintaining “the global stars that drive viewership.”
TikTok has not specifically responded to this or other UMG allegations, but accused the company of “false narratives and rhetoric” and noted that it was able to sign deals with other major music labels.
The company signed a music licensing deal with Warner Music Group last year.
“The fact is that they have chosen 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.