It happened: Universal, the world’s largest music label, removed its artists’ works from TikTok. This means: Songs by musicians such as Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, Drake, Adele, Billie Eilish and many others are no longer available on the social media app. In total, around seven million songs are affected. The measure follows failed licensing negotiations after the exploitation agreement between the music group and the Chinese platform expired on Wednesday (January 31).
“Ultimately, TikTok is trying to build a music-based business without paying fair value for the music,” as the record company summarized the conflict in a statement. For users of the app, the development means in concrete terms: All songs by artists who are under contract with the label have disappeared. Tracks by Taylor Swift, Lana Del Ray, Beyoncé and many others can no longer be included in videos. For existing content with songs from Universal, the clips will be retained, but will be played without the music in the future.
Therefore, no new contract was concluded
In a statement released on Wednesday (January 31), the label claimed that they were made an offer that was worth less than their previous contract. This does not reflect the exponential growth of the platform.
The record company also announced that the Chinese company had only offered musicians a “fraction of the remuneration usual on other similar online platforms”. You only earn one percent of your sales through the app. This despite the fact that the label has an outsized presence of licensed music on the site compared to others. The compensation figures cannot be verified. There is no freely accessible data and both parties remain silent on the issue.
There are also other difficulties with the social media app, which is particularly popular among young people around the world. Too many pirated copies and sometimes questionable content between political propaganda and pornography are just one thing. But according to the record label, the video platform favors big bands and musicians over others. Smaller acts should even be canceled completely and at their own discretion. “TikTok is using the power of its platform to harm vulnerable artists and attempting to intimidate us into agreeing to a bad deal that undervalues music and disadvantages artists and songwriters and their fans,” the label said.
TikTok as an advertising platform
In response, the Chinese company accused Universal of putting its “own greed above the interests of its artists and songwriters.” The company emphasized that the record company is withdrawing from a platform with over a billion users that serves as a free promotion and discovery platform for its talent.
A key issue in the conflict is the issue of royalties and TikTok’s alleged promotion of artificially created music. Universal warns of a development that amounts to “replacing artists with AI”. TikTok, on the other hand, accuses it of rejecting fairer conditions.