Universal Music Breaking Up With TikTok?
• UPDATED: It appears that Universal Music is ending its relationship with TikTok, effective today. Last evening, an open letter, titled “Why We Must Call Time Out on TikTok” was sent to Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) songwriters & artists. The entire letter is posted here, but this is the introduction preceding the letter that lays out the basics:
“Dear UMPG Family: We are reaching out to trusted and valued partners throughout the globe to inform you that, despite our good faith efforts over the last several months, we are at an impasse in reaching a licensing agreement with TikTok and our current agreement ends tomorrow (Jan. 31).
The introduction continues: “Despite TikTok’s widespread use of music, its exponential revenue growth, and the massive increase in its user base in such a short period of time, TikTok insists on paying our songwriters at a fraction of the rate that similarly situated major social media platforms pay — and without any material increase from our prior agreement. TikTok tried to bully us into accepting their proposal by selectively removing the music of certain developing artists. This is unacceptable.”
One passage in the open letter states: “In our contract renewal discussions, we have been pressing them on three critical issues — appropriate compensation for our artists and songwriters, protecting human artists from the harmful effects of AI, and online safety for TikTok’s users.” Another key sentence reads, simply, “Ultimately, TikTok is trying to build a music-based business, without paying fair value for the music.”
In closing, the introductory note states, “We will always fight for our songwriters and protect the creative and commercial value of music. We believe our greatest responsibility to you is to make sure your songs are appropriately compensated, on platforms that respect human creativity, with your music in environments that are safe for all and effectively policed. We take this responsibility very seriously, and we will never stray from our commitment to you.”
• Several hours later, TikTok posted this response to social media: “It is sad and disappointing that Universal Music Group has put their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters.
Despite Universal’s false narrative and rhetoric, the fact is they have chosen to walk away from the powerful support of a platform with well over a billion users that serves as a free promotional and discovery vehicle for their talent.
TikTok has been able to reach ‘artist-first’ agreements with every other label and publisher. Clearly, Universal’s self-serving actions are not in the best interests of artists, songwriters and fans.”
Stay tuned for further developments.
