The battle between Universal and TikTok is getting tougher. After American megastar Taylor Swift, British legends The Beatles or Canadian The Weeknd, British pop star Harry Styles and American R&B writer SZA have disappeared from TikTok, owned by the Chinese group ByteDance, with more than a billion users.
Following the January 31st expiration of the licensing agreement between UMG and TikTok and the failure of their negotiations to renew it, all tracks recorded under Universal’s contract are being removed from TikTok’s music library.
“We are in the process of responding to Universal Music Group’s request to remove all songs written (or co-written) by songwriters under contract with Universal Music Publishing Group, consistent with the information they provided us,” TikTok said this week. A press release.
video. Universal Music removes songs from TikTok
Resuming its argument from January 31, Universal responded in a public letter to artists on Thursday that TikTok “does not agree to recognize the fair value of your songs”.
According to UMG, until a month ago, the two groups were negotiating “fair compensation” for artists and songwriters, online safety for users and protection of artists against harm from artificial intelligence (AI).
TikTok “refuses to consider our concerns regarding AI” for the use of songs by Universal artists, the American group reiterated.
As UMG ranks second in the world in the music industry, its conflict with TikTok has significant consequences in terms of copyright in music.
In recent years, music rights have become a thriving market after a wave of catalog sales allowed Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young to make money from their works. These catalogs are interesting long-term assets for investors in an age of streaming and social networks that are important promotional tools for established or emerging artists.
Owners of a song’s publishing rights receive financial compensation for every broadcast, album sale or use in advertising and films. Registration rights govern the reproduction of works and distributions.
Which means that in a Universal-TikTok conflict, records from other labels like Sony or Warner could be affected if a songwriter linked to Universal collaborates on a track.
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