Songs by Taylor Swift, Drake, Beyoncé and many more contemporary music superstars have disappeared en masse from TikTok after Universal Music Group severed ties with the social media giant following a controversial contract dispute.
TO look for of Swift's viral hit “Cruel Summer” now appears empty on TikTok, where the song's audio recently sparked a trend that led to its use in more than 2.5 million videos. The same goes for searches of “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd, which had been used in almost two million videos. “This sound is not available,” the site reads.
UMG owns the largest music catalog in the world and its departure from TikTok leaves the platform without millions of popular songs with which its creators record content. Existing videos with embedded audio owned by UMG are now muted but remain in users' accounts, albeit without sound.
However, TikTok is fully licensed and has deals in place with all other major and independent labels, sources close to the social media platform confirmed. EDM.com. Those sources also tell us that TikTok argued that it “is not a music streaming platform and should not be licensed as such.”
The removal of the music is a result of the erosion of licensing discussions between TikTok and UMG, the latter of which eventually shared a bitingly open this last. They said negotiations collapsed after urging TikTok to address “three critical issues: adequate compensation for our artists and songwriters, protecting human artists from the harmful effects of AI, and online safety for TikTok users.”
UMG also claimed that TikTok “tried to bully” them into accepting a proposed settlement that would have paid its musicians and songwriters “a fraction” of the amount paid out by other social media platforms, adding that the app accounts for about 1% of your total income. . The existing agreement between the two companies expired on January 31.
TikTok, owned by Chinese tech company Bytedance, responded to UMG's open letter after its launch and accused them of putting “their own greed before the interests of their artists and songwriters.”
“Despite Universal's false narrative and rhetoric, the fact is that they have decided to step away from the powerful support of a platform with over a billion users that serves as a free vehicle of promotion and discovery for their talent,” reads TikTok. statement. “TikTok has been able to reach '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 is expected to reach two billion users by the end of 2024, by Application business.
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