Taylor Swift, Drake and other artists’ music will no longer be on TikTok: DETAILS
Universal Music Group will no longer license music on TikTok from Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, BTS and more
Fans of Taylor Swift, BTS, Billie Eilish and more, will no longer be able to enjoy the music from these artists on TikTok, amid the video streaming platform and Universal Music Group’s licensing feud.
As reported by Deadline, UMG on Wednesday issued an open letter in which it highlighted three main reasons of not renewing contract with TikTok, including “appropriate compensation for our artists and songwriters, protecting human artists from the harmful effects of AI, and online safety for TikTok’s users.”
UMG also revealed that “TikTok proposed paying our artists and songwriters at a rate that is a fraction of the rate that similarly situated major social platforms pay.”
The open letter from Universal Music Group concluded with last reservation with TikTok, stating, “Ultimately, TikTok is trying to build a music-based business, without paying fair value for the music.”
UMG also accused TikTok of letting users to record and create music using artificial intelligence, claiming that such allowance “massively dilute the royalty pool for human artists, in a move that is nothing short of sponsoring artist replacement by AI.”
Read More: Taylor Swift eyes legal measures against site publishing explicit AI images
Tik Tok claps back at Universal Music Group amid 'false narrative' over artists contract:
TikTok hit back at UMG shortly after its open letter, saying, “It is sad and disappointing that Universal Music Group has put their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters.”
“Despite Universal’s false narrative and rhetoric, the fact is they have chosen to walk away from the powerful support of a platform with well over a billion users that serves as a free promotional and discovery vehicle for their talent,” added the platform in their statement as shared by Digital Music News on Thursday.
The ByteDance subsidiary concluded their statement noting, “TikTok has been able to reach ‘artist-first’ agreements with every other label and publisher. Clearly, Universal’s self-serving actions are not in the best interests of artists, songwriters and fans.”
Furthermore, because Universal Music has announced that the current license deal ends today, it will be interesting to observe how fan comments and criticism affect the course of the highly visible rift until the pertinent library is really deleted.
