Universal Music Group (UMG) is threatening to remove all its music from TikTok. In an open letter published January 30th, UMG accused TikTok of trying to ‘bully‘ and ‘intimidate‘ them into taking a deal worth less than their previous deal, one that doesn’t account for TikTok’s exponential growth.
UMG’s contract with TikTok is set to expire today, January 31st, and since the two have not yet reached an agreement, UMG has threatened to remove all its music from the social media platform. This would result in the removal of millions of tracks, including anything by Taylor Swift, The Weeknd, Kendrick Lamar, The Beatles, and Sophie Ellis-Bexto, whose current track, ‘Murder on the Dancefloor,’ is currently trending on TikTok.
In the open letter, UMG claims TikTok is paying artists and songwriters a fraction of the rate other social media platforms pay. It adds: ‘Today, as an indication of how little TikTok compensates artists and songwriters, despite its massive and growing user base, rapidly rising advertising revenue and increasing reliance on music-based content, TikTok accounts for only about 1% of our total revenue.’
‘TikTok’s tactics are obvious: use its platform power to hurt vulnerable artists and try to intimidate us into conceding to a bad deal that undervalues music and shortchanges artists and songwriters as well as their fans.’
-Open letter from UMG
TikTok responded to UMG’s letter with the following statement: ‘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.’
-Statement from TikTok
You can read UMG’s full open letter here and TikTok’s response here.
Source: Mixmag
