UMG's TikTok Licensing Feud: Music Industry Reactions (Update)

Universal Music Group (UMG), the world's largest music company, published an open letter to its artists and songwriters on Tuesday (January 30) saying the company's music will soon leave TikTok due to disputes over compensation, artificial intelligence , infringement of works and harassment.

TikTok responded a few hours later, calling UMG's letter a “false narrative” and stating that it was “sad and disappointing that [UMG] they have put their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters.” The short-form video app noted that it serves as an important “free promotion” and “discovery” tool for UMG artists.

By Thursday (February 1), much of the recorded music released by UMG had been removed from TikTok, affecting 21 of the songs on the TikTok Billboard Top 50 chart. That day, UMG released another statement characterizing the view TikTok's 'sadly outdated' music licensing policy.

“TikTok didn't even try to address the other issues we raised about harmful artificial intelligence and platform security,” the statement continued.

Other music businesses and organizations also added to the discussion with their own statements. Read on for these reactions.

President/CEO NMPA David the Israelite: “Music is the driving force behind TikTok's success, and it's extremely unfortunate that TikTok doesn't seem to value the music creators who fuel its business. We believe that songwriters should be valued and compensated fairly, and we believe that artificial intelligence should never be used to devalue human creativity. We've seen other social media platforms make the mistake of claiming that promotion should replace fair compensation. It's a lost argument and it's wrong.”

Founder/CEO of Primary Wave Larry Mestel: “The notion that TikTok will try to rationalize willfully underpaid artists because, the platform says, it offers artists 'promotion' is a decades-old quandary that has no place in any modern music business. Artists and songwriters must be properly compensated for their work and protected from unethical uses of artificial intelligence. Period. We are proud to stand with UMG and artist supporters who have demanded that TikTok properly pay and protect the songwriters and artists who are critical to the platform's growth and cultural relevance.”

Artist Rights Alliance: “TikTok's failure to pay artists fairly and use AI responsibly cannot be tolerated. Another example of why musicians need a voice in setting the prices and rules for using their work.”