As the NMPA license expires, some Indie music will be downloaded from TikTok next week

The National Music Publishers' Association's (NMPA) TikTok license model, which is used by several independent music publishers, will expire at the end of April, and there are no ongoing negotiations between the NMPA and TikTok to renew it.

This means that starting May 1, more songs will be removed from TikTok, joining the millions already removed from Universal Music Group's catalog earlier this year. In late January, licensing negotiations between UMG and TikTok broke down, resulting in UMG deciding to pull its music from the platform. In an open letter sent to artists and songwriters, the company lamented that TikTok failed to pay “fair value” for music. He also noted other concerns about the platform, including concerns about artificial intelligence and artist safety. TikTok responded within hours, calling UMG's letter a “false narrative” and that it was “sad and disappointing that [UMG] they have put their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters.”

It is unclear how far-reaching the impact of the NMPA's expired permit will be. A TikTok spokesperson claims that only a small percentage of its total music library used the model license and that they are not sure that TikTok users will even notice the removals. The spokesperson adds that TikTok is in discussions with several of the publishers that used the NMPA license to obtain individual licenses, including some of the bigger players that use the NMPA model license. TikTok declined to provide further details.

The NMPA is also tight-lipped about the magnitude of this impact, given that the decision on whether or not to individually renew TikTok licenses for May 1 rests in the hands of its members, not the NMPA. While the NMPA cannot reveal which independent music publishers are using the model license for TikTok, it appears to be a popular option, used by a large number of companies, from tiny boutiques to fairly independent ones. Big publishers and some big indies already negotiate directly with TikTok, but the NMPA's TikTok model license exists as a service largely to help smaller publishers who would have less bargaining power or resources obtain the license on their own.

NMPA also has model licenses with the other social media networks available to its members, including YouTube, Meta and others, and the organization says it will continue to offer those other model licenses to members. X, in particular, is absent from this list because it doesn't pay for music that appears on its platform. The NMPA has been asking X to license and pay for the music for years to no avail, leading the trade body to launch a $250 million lawsuit against X in June 2023.

The NMPA's decision to pull out of TikTok should come as no surprise. President and CEO NMPA David the Israelite He supported UMG and its publishing company and NMPA member UMPG, as well as its choice to leave TikTok in the first place. Shortly after announcing his departure from UMG, Israelite offered a statement, saying “it's extremely unfortunate that TikTok doesn't seem to value the music creators who fuel its business.”

On February 2, Israelite gave a speech at the Independent Music Publishers Association's Grammy Week event, announcing that the NMPA's license was set to expire at the end of April. “I'll just say two things about TikTok: the first is that I think music is extremely important to TikTok's business model, and secondly, I'm just stating the fact that the NMPA model license, which many of you use, with TikTok expires in April,” he said at the time.

On March 5, the organization sent a letter to its members explaining that the NMPA did not anticipate renewing its license with TikTok and told members using the license model to negotiate directly with TikTok if they wanted to remain on the platform. . Since then, the agency has not returned to the negotiating table with TikTok.

In a statement, TikTok said: “We have direct deals with thousands of music publishers – including NMPA members – and will continue to work with the entire publishing industry to help make their songs available on TikTok.”