London
CNN
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Universal Music Group is threatening to pull its music from TikTok in a dispute over royalties, giving the platform's more than 1 billion users access to music by artists including Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande and Rihanna. You may not be able to stream your vast catalog of songs.
Universal released a statement Tuesday titled “An Open Letter to the Artist and Songwriter Community – Why We Must Time Out TikTok,” in which it said its licensing agreement with the platform expires Wednesday. He did not respond to CNN's request for further comment.
One of the issues Universal is focusing on in its “contract renewal negotiations” with TikTok is “adequate compensation” for artists and songwriters, the company said. TikTok allows users to add music to their videos.
Universal said TikTok, owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance, had offered to pay a “portion” of the fees paid by social media platforms of similar size.
Like other music companies, Netherlands-based Universal charges royalties when its songs are played on social media platforms. It also owns songs by Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Billie Eilish, J. Balvin, and Amy Winehouse.
TikTok responded by saying Universal was promoting “false narratives and rhetoric” and accused the company of “putting its own desires over the interests of artists and songwriters.”
“They have chosen to walk away from the strong support of a platform with well over 1 billion users that serves as a free way to promote and discover their talent,” TikTok said in a statement.
In an open letter, Universal said: He accused TikTok of “trying to build a music-based business without paying a fair price for music.”
“TikTok pays artists and songwriters very little, even with its large and growing user base, rapidly increasing ad revenue, and increasing reliance on music-based content.'' “Regardless, TikTok only accounts for approximately 1% of our total revenue,” the music giant said. Said.
Universal also said it has been pressuring TikTok to better protect musicians from the “harmful effects” of artificial intelligence and ensure the online safety of TikTok users.
Universal said TikTok is “flooding” its platform with AI-generated music and giving users tools to create their own AI-generated recordings.
When pressed about these issues, Universal said TikTok responded with “indifference and threats” to remove some up-and-coming artists from the platform while preserving the music of global stars.
TikTok said in its response that it had reached “artist-first” agreements with “all other labels and publishers.”
Correction: This article has been corrected to clarify that Universal has not yet removed the music from TikTok.
Elizabeth Wagmeister contributed to this article.
