Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny And Others May Vanish From TikTok, Feb 1st As Licensing Dispute Boils Over

TIKTOK: Universal Music Group, representing artists such as Taylor Swift, Drake, Adele, Bad Bunny, and Billie Eilish, has announced that its music would no longer be available on TikTok after a licencing agreement between the two parties expired.

UMG stated that it has not agreed to the terms of a new arrangement with the company and intends to suspend licencing content from the artists it represents on the ByteDance-owned social media platform and TikTok Music services.

Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny And Others May Vanish From TikTok As Licensing Dispute Boils Over

The licencing arrangement between UMG and TikTok has ended as of Wednesday.

In a statement to artists and songwriters on Tuesday, UMG stated that it has pressed the company on three issues: “appropriate compensation for our artists and songwriters, protecting human artists from the harmful effects of AI, and online safety for it’s users.”

UMG stated that the company suggested paying its artists and songwriters at a fraction of the rate other major social platforms paid and that the company accounts for just approximately 1% of its total revenue.

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

TikTok responded to UMG’s concerns, stating it had struck ‘artist-first’ agreements with every other label and publisher.

Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny And Others May Vanish From TikTok As Licensing Dispute Boils Over

“Clearly, Universal’s self-serving actions are not in the best interests of artists, songwriters and fans,” the founder of TikTok remarked.

However, Universal Song described the new technology as a potential danger to musicians and stated that the company is building tools to permit, promote, and encourage AI song creation. UMG filed a complaint claiming that the platform was “demanding a contractual right which would allow this content to massively dilute the royalty pool for human artists, in a move that is nothing short of sponsoring artist replacement by AI.”

UMG also expressed concerns about the app’s safety. UMG is dissatisfied with the company’s efforts to address what it claims is hate speech, intolerance, bullying, and harassment. It stated that removing problematic content from TikTok is a “monumentally laborious and inefficient process, ” equating to the digital equivalent of “Whack-a-Mole.”

UMG stated that it offered that TikTok takes procedures comparable to those used by some of its other social media platform partners but was initially received with indifference, followed by intimidation.

Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny And Others May Vanish From TikTok As Licensing Dispute Boils Over

“As our negotiations continued, the company attempted to bully us into accepting a deal worth less than the previous deal, far less than fair market value and not reflective of their exponential growth,” UMG stated. “How did it attempt to intimidate us? By deleting the music of a few of our emerging artists while retaining our audience-driving worldwide stars on the platform.”

According to the company, Universal Music prioritises “their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters.”

SOURCE – (AP)