Why Universal Music Group Is Pulling Its Artists’ Songs from TikTok?
The record label has not reached an agreement with the video platform to renew their contract
A TikTok-related drama is unfolding, and no, it has nothing to do with your favorite content creators having a live feud. Universal Music Group (UMG), one of the world’s largest record labels, is pulling its songs from the social media platform TikTok due to disagreements in a new contract negotiation with the Chinese company. As a result, the current contract between them will expire on Wednesday, January 31st, at midnight.
Our core mission is simple: to help our artists & songwriters attain their greatest creative and commercial potential, which is why we must call time out on TikTok.
Learn More: https://t.co/yJDQ7FdgNc pic.twitter.com/Lhluz1ez5H
— Universal Music Group (@UMG) January 31, 2024
But What Exactly Happened?
In a statement, the discography has accused the social media platform of employing harassment and intimidation tactics in an attempt to secure a new contract.
TikTok 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.”
In simpler terms, this means that during the new contract negotiations, TikTok proposed to pay artists significantly less for their song plays and usage compared to what other social media platforms offer. Furthermore, the platform refused to take measures to protect its artists from the ‘flood’ of new content generated using Artificial Intelligence.
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.”
How Does this Disagreement Affect Everyone?
This dispute will impact both emerging and established artists, as well as content creators on the platform, which has over 1 billion users worldwide. However, according to the record label, despite its massive user base, TikTok accounts for only around 1% of Universal’s total revenue.
What is undeniable is that the social media platform serves as a platform not only for dance trends but also for music promotion. In the case of artists, this social network often helps boost their artistic careers by creating trends with artists or songs, to the extent of producing musical hits. Some singers even consider the perfect TikTok snippet during the creative process of their songs.
Universal Music Group Artists
Universal Music Group boasts a portfolio of some of the world’s most renowned artists. This includes the likes of:
- Taylor Swift
- Billie Eilish
- Feid
- Rosalía
- Bad Bunny
- Harry Styles
- J Balvin
- Drake
- The Weeknd
- Morat
- Ariana Grande
- Madonna
- The Beatles
- Kendrick Lamar
- SZA
- Aitana
- Rihanna
- Eminem
- BTS, and many others.
At this moment, trending songs such as «La Diabla» by Xavi, «Murder On The Dancefloor» by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, and «Everybody» by Nicki Minaj will vanish from TikTok in just a few hours.