Taylor Swift attends a premiere for Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour in Los Angeles, California, U.S., October 11, 2023.
Mario Anzuoni | Reuters
Common Music Group mentioned Wednesday it’s going to stop licensing its music to TikTok and accused the short-form video big of bullying and intimidation in its contract negotiations.
A music licensing settlement between UMG and TikTok, which is owned by Chinese language tech big ByteDance, expired Wednesday, and new phrases haven’t been agreed. Which means that UMG might pull its music catalog from TikTok.
UMG mentioned in an open letter revealed Wednesday that it has been “urgent” TikTok throughout contract discussions on three points — “acceptable compensation for our artists and songwriters, defending human artists from the dangerous results of AI, and on-line security for TikTok’s customers.”
The music label, which represents megastars from Taylor Swift to Drake, mentioned that TikTok proposed paying its artists and songwriters “at a charge that’s a fraction of the speed that equally located main social platforms pay.” UMG mentioned just one% of its complete income comes from TikTok, regardless of the social community’s “large and rising consumer base, quickly rising promoting income and rising reliance on music-based content material.”
UMG additionally alleged that TikTok is permitting its platform to be “flooded with AI-generated recordings,” in addition to creating instruments to “allow, promote and encourage AI music creation.” In keeping with UMG, TikTok is “demanding a contractual proper which might enable this content material to massively dilute the royalty pool for human artists, in a transfer that’s nothing wanting sponsoring artist substitute by AI.”
The music business has been grappling with the rise of synthetic intelligence, which may generate music and even mimic the voices of huge artists.
UMG additionally mentioned that TikTok “makes little effort to take care of the huge quantities of content material on its platform that infringe” artists’ music.
The label firm accused TikTok of bullying and intimidation ways in contract negotiations.
“Once we proposed that TikTok takes related steps as our different platform companions to attempt to deal with these points, it responded first with indifference, after which with intimidation,” UMG mentioned.
“As our negotiations continued, TikTok tried to bully us into accepting a deal price lower than the earlier deal, far lower than truthful market worth and never reflective of their exponential progress. How did it attempt to intimidate us? By selectively eradicating the music of sure of our creating artists, whereas holding on the platform our audience-driving world stars.”
TikTok accuses UMG of ‘greed’ over artists
TikTok responded to UMG’s allegations on Wednesday.
“It’s unhappy and disappointing that Common Music Group has put their very own greed above the pursuits of their artists and songwriters,” the corporate mentioned in a press release.
“Regardless of Common’s false narrative and rhetoric, the very fact is that they have chosen to stroll away from the highly effective assist of a platform with properly over a billion customers that serves as a free promotional and discovery car for his or her expertise.”
TikTok mentioned it has been in a position to attain “artist-first agreements with each different label and writer.”
Final 12 months, the corporate signed a music licensing take care of Warner Music Group.
