Olivia Rodrigo performs in concert during the taping of the television show “Austin City Limits” at ACL Live on October 2, 2021 in Austin, Texas.Amy Harris/Invision/AP Hide Caption
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Olivia Rodrigo performs in concert during the taping of the television show “Austin City Limits” at ACL Live on October 2, 2021 in Austin, Texas.
Amy Harris/Invision/AP
TikTok announced that it has removed all songs by artists licensed to Universal Music Group, including Taylor Swift, BTS, Drake, and Olivia Rodrigo.
“We began the removal late last night, January 31st Pacific Time, as the removal deadline was approaching. [UMG/TikTok] The license has expired,” a TikTok spokesperson told NPR in an email.
In addition to the music removal, “videos containing music licensed from Universal were muted.”
In an open letter, UMG argues that, among other things, TikTok has not compensated artists fairly and has allowed the platform to be “flooded with AI-generated recordings; We are developing tools to promote, promote and encourage the It's the platform itself. ” You can read UMG’s full letter here.
As UMG points out, TikTok's huge success was “built largely on the music created” by artists and songwriters. In turn, emerging artists are using this platform to launch their careers.
At least one UMG artist is not happy that his song was removed. In a video posted to the platform, Grammy nominee Noah Kayhan says, “I can't promote my music on TikTok anymore. But luckily, I'm not a TikTok artist, right?” talking.
Kahan, who is signed to Republic Records, a subsidiary of UMG, credits his success to TikTok. Fans on the platform turned excerpts of his songs into viral sensations. Kayhan was nominated for Best New Artist at this year's Grammy Awards.
Tatiana Sirisano, a music industry analyst at Midia Research, told NPR that social media giant TikTok is negotiating a new deal with the world's largest music company before its contract expires on January 31st. He said that it was intensifying.
“UMG is taking the nuclear option of removing all of their music and proving that without their catalog there would be no TikTok,” she said.
Early Wednesday morning, UMG published an article titled “An Open Letter to the Artist and Songwriter Community – Why You Should Call a Time Out on TikTok.” Some suspect that the letter was actually aimed at music fans and technology watchers as well.
Regarding TikTok, the letter says, “During our contract renewal discussions, we pressed them on three key issues,” including protection from AI-generated recordings and user online safety. They point out that these issues include issues such as the high compensation of artists and songwriters.
“On the issue of artist and songwriter compensation, TikTok has proposed paying our artists and songwriters a fraction of the fees paid by similarly situated major social platforms. as an indicator of method,” the letter continues. TikTok rarely offers compensation to artists and songwriters, despite its huge and growing user base, rapidly increasing ad revenue, and increasing reliance on music-based content. Ultimately, TikTok only seeks to build music-based revenue for about 1% of its total revenue. You can do business without paying a fair price for your music. ”
The big issue here is compensation, Sirisano said. “I would also like to point out that this is probably going to have a bigger impact on Universal Music as a company than it does on individual artists and songwriters,” she says.
in Statement on social mediaTikTok accused UMG of promoting “false narratives and rhetoric” and putting “greed over the interests of artists and songwriters.”