Hello TikTok users and fellow content creators. Did you open the app and come across some muted videos on your For You page? That's because from February 1st 2024, some of your favourite artists under Universal Media Group (UMG), the world’s largest recording label, have their songs removed from their massive catalogue after contentious negotiations surrounding a new licensing agreement failed.
On Tuesday, January 30th, UMG accused TikTok of pressuring it to accept an unfavourable deal that did not address the record labels’ concerns about fair compensation for artists and songwriters, safeguards against AI-generated music, and online safety measures to protect artists from “hate speech, bigotry, bullying, and harassment.”
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| As of February 1st, 2024, artists like Taylor Swift have no music in their catalogue. |
TikTok responded to UMG’s accusations by expressing disappointment that the label had decided to abandon a platform with over a billion users and accused UMG of prioritizing its own financial interests over those of its artists and songwriters.
The popular social media platform with over 1.2 billion monthly active users, currently loses a huge music catalogue of artists such as Mr Eazi, Nasty C, Yemi Alade, Tiwa Savage, Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish, Drake and more. This is a significant issue for creators who rely on adding popular song clips to participate in trending dances, memes, and challenges that spread like wildfire among TikTok’s engaged young user base.
The Possible Losses Faced by Each Side
The real issue going on here is how artists and the music industry might be affected. Indie artists depend on TikTok to promote upcoming music and new releases of their music for users to discover and enjoy, especially younger audiences.
While the disagreement between music rights holders and some major streaming platforms still raises many concerns, there are matters about fair compensation to artists as well.
The other one is about the particular audience to reach out to (the users), especially younger audiences who get to use the platform daily and make content based on trends and other fun creative ways.
Currently, other music labels like Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group still have their music catalog on their platform and this might prompt users to use other song alternatives at the moment.