The breakdown in licensing talks between Universal Music Group (UMG) and TikTok affects far more than Universal's artists and songwriters.
Occasionally, a music company pulls its recorded music catalog, publishing catalog, or both from a digital service provider after licensing talks are over — Warner Music Group did this with YouTube in 2008, for example. It happened again on February 1, when UMG began pulling its recordings from TikTok after the two companies couldn't come to an agreement on a new licensing deal.
The license collapse first affected artists signed to UMG labels. Take the Q4 Hot 100, a list of the 100 best tracks of the fourth quarter. UMG's various labels — including Republic Records and Interscope Records — released 41 of the 100 tracks, including Taylor Swift's “Cruel Summer,” Doja Cat's “Paint the Town Red” and “Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree” by Brenda Lee.
On Tuesday (February 27), TikTok began removing compositions partially owned by Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG). On the publishing side, UMG is interested in 40 of the Q4 2023 Hot 100 tracks, including SZA's “Snooze” (a track released by Sony's RCA Records), Jack Harlow's “Lovin on Me” (a track released by Warner Music Group Atlantic Records) and Usher's “Good Good” (a track released by gamma, an indie debut).
Since each recording includes two copyrights — one for the master recording, one for the composition — the damage of UMG's decision to pull its repertoire from TikTok is even greater. Counting both recorded music and music publishing, UMG has an ownership interest in 61 of the Hot 100 songs of the fourth quarter of 2023. Twenty of those 61 tracks have a publishing interest in UMG but were not released by a UMG-owned record label. Another 20 of these tracks have a publishing interest in UMG and were released by a UMG label. UMG has no publishing interest in the remaining 21 tracks released by a UMG label.
This is far greater than UMG's market share in either recorded music or publishing. UMG had a 39.4% share of US recorded music by distribution in 2023 (29.4% share by ownership) and a 15.8% publisher market share of the Hot 100 in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Ownership interest, not market share, touches on the real impact of the UMG-TikTok impasse. Today's popular songs have multiple co-writers, each of whom may have a different music publisher. When a track includes a sample or interpolation of another composition, the songwriters of those works receive credit for the new work as well. The 41 tracks on the Hot 100 in which UMG has a publishing interest have an average of 5.5 songwriters. Eight of those 41 tracks had 8 or more co-writers. four of them had 10 or more co-writers. Of the 41 tracks owned by UMG, only Irving Berlin's 83-year-old “White Christmas” was written by one person.
The more songwriters on a single track, the greater the chances that any music publisher will remove a track during a licensing dispute. An example of this complexity is Doechii's “What It Is (Block Boy)” featuring Kodak Black, released by UMG-owned Capitol Records (the track entered the Hot 100 in May thanks to its TikTok success). The recording features a sample of TLC's 1999 hit “No Scrubs” and intersperses a hook from Lil Scrappy and Trillville's “Some Cut,” which reached No. 15 on the Hot 100 in 2005. “What It Is (Block Boy)” has 16 co-writers, including 4 co-writers of “No Scrubs” and 6 co-writers of “Some Cut”.
A broad sampling of music publishing activity is represented on “What It Is (Block Boy).” The Music Licensing Collective's public database listings 7 different publishers attached to lineup: UMPG, Sony/ATV, Warner Chappell Music, Disney, BMG, Concord and Reservoir Media. UMPG's 3% collection share is the smallest of the seven issuers.
To be sure, the Hot 100 from Q4 2023 doesn't perfectly reflect what's currently most popular — or would be popular if not for the licensing impasse — on TikTok. The TikTok Billboard 50 shows that the platform's most popular music is a mix of Hot 100 staples (“Lovin On Me”) and indie music that wouldn't otherwise appear on Advertising sign chart (“QKThr” by Aphex Twin).
This impressive development is not a music company vs. a technology company story. Labels and publishers who have renewed their licensing deals with TikTok have unwittingly joined UMG's battle with the platform. UMG's inability to reach a deal with TikTok affects every major label group and likely touches every music publisher.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/pro/universal-music-tiktok-fight-affects-majority-most-popular-songs/
