Universal Music Group, which represents artists such as Taylor Swift, Drake, Adele, Bad Bunny and Billie Eilish, says it will no longer allow their music on TikTok now that a licensing agreement between the two parties has expired.
UMG said it had not agreed to the terms of a new deal with TikTok and plans to stop licensing content to artists it represents on the ByteDance-owned social media platform as well as TikTok Music services.
The licensing agreement between UMG and TikTok expired on Wednesday.
In a Tuesday letter to artists and songwriters, UMG said it had been pressing TikTok on three issues: “adequate compensation for our artists and songwriters, protecting human artists from the harmful effects of AI, and online safety.” for TikTok users.”
UMG said TikTok proposed paying its artists and songwriters a fee that is a fraction of what other major social platforms pay, adding that TikTok represents only about 1% of its total revenue.
“Ultimately, TikTok is trying to build a business based on music, without paying fair value for the music,” UMG said.
TikTok rejected UMG’s claims, saying it has reached “artist first” deals with all other labels and publishers.
“Clearly, Universal’s selfish actions are not in the best interest of artists, songwriters and fans,” TikTok said.
However, Universal Music also called new technologies a potential threat to artists and said TikTok is developing tools to enable, promote and encourage AI music creation. UMG accused the platform of “demanding a contractual right that would allow this content to massively dilute the royalty pool for human artists, in a move that is nothing short of sponsoring AI’s replacement of artists.”
UMG also took issue with what it described as security issues at TikTok. UMG is dissatisfied with TikTok’s efforts to address what it says is hate speech, bigotry, bullying and harassment. He said removing concerning content from TikTok is a “monumentally cumbersome and inefficient process that amounts to the digital equivalent of “Whack-a-Mole.”
UMG said it proposed that TikTok take measures similar to those used by some of its other social media platform partners, but that it was initially met with indifference and then intimidation.
“As our negotiations continued, TikTok attempted to bully us into accepting a deal that was worth less than the previous deal, far less than fair market value, and does not reflect its exponential growth,” UMG said. “How did he try to intimidate us? By selectively removing the music of some of our developing artists, while keeping our audience-driving global stars on the platform.”
TikTok, however, said Universal Music is putting “its own greed before the interests of its artists and songwriters.”