What’s going on here?
Universal Music Group started pulling songs from TikTok, a bummer for the world’s million-dollar creators, chronically online teenagers, and hopeful social media shareholders.
What does this mean?
After a year of swapping legal terms, Universal – which owns a third of the world’s music – has stopped TikTok using tracks from the label’s artists. Plenty of TikTok videos have already had their audio stripped, with analysts predicting that 60 to 80% of the platform’s top songs will be impacted in the coming weeks. Now, Universal was willing to compromise for a price: YouTube, after all, hands over 20% of a video’s advertising revenue when there’s a protected track involved. TikTok’s been haggling over a smaller slice, though, and even its recently bumped-up offer was nowhere near YouTube’s agreement.
Why should I care?
Zooming out: Artificial intelligence, real-life royalties.
Universal’s clamping down on budding music makers, saying that any money made from edits and mashups of its artists’ songs should go straight back to the source. That could set the tone for the whole industry: streaming businesses are making less and less cash, so they’re turning to licensing deals to bring in some pocket money. Artificial intelligence is making it easier to mix and master at home, see, and the music industry’s bigwigs believe that could really line their coffers – so long as they can lay claim to the royalties.
The bigger picture: Stay silent, stay private.
ByteDance, TikTok’s owner, has considered taking the company public since 2021, but regulatory blockers from China and the US have slowed down the process. Bear in mind, too, that TikTok is free to use – a blessing for parents with constantly scrolling kids – so the platform makes its money from advertising alone. Now if TikTok needs to start paying out for music and content instead of splashing out on initiatives to grow the business, those public listing plans may be pushed even further down the road.
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Originally Posted February 29, 2024 – Universal Music Gave TikTok The Silent Treatment, Pulling Its Songs From The Platform
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