By Alexandra Steigrad, New York Post | Universal Music Group — which owns the rights to superstars including Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish and Drake — threatened to revoke TikTok’s license on Wednesday after the two companies failed to reach a deal on key issues such as artist compensation.
The world’s largest music company wants TikTok to increase payments to its artists, as well as to address the growing trend of using artificial intelligence to create music on the Chinese-owned video-sharing app.
Revoking TikTok’s license, which expires Wednesday, could be a devastating blow for the app as roughly 60% of the videos posted to its platform include music.
“TikTok proposed paying our artists and songwriters at a rate that is a fraction of the rate that similarly situated major social platforms pay,” UMG said.
“As our negotiations continued, TikTok attempted to bully us into accepting a deal worth less than the previous deal, far less than fair market value and not reflective of their exponential growth.”
UMG said Wednesday that it would pull Taylor Swift’s music from TikTok, after it could not come to an agreement with the platform. AP
The company did not say how much it was paid in its previous deal or what increase it is seeking from TikTok, which has an estimated 1.5 billion monthly users.
TikTok shot back early Wednesday with its own scathing response, accusing the music company of putting “their own greed above the interests of artists and songwriters.”
UMG said TikTok only accounts for 1% of its advertising revenue — despite its musicians representing eight out of 10 of the most popular bands and singers on the social media site last year.
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Read the full story here:
https://nypost.com/2024/01/31/media/taylor-swifts-music-label-universal-media-group-to-pull-music-from-tiktok/
[Thanks to COMBO’s VP Annette Cannon for contributing this article!]
Photo: Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift’s Music Label Universal Media Group Threatens to Pull Music from TikTok
