Universal Music Group (UMG), the world’s largest music market share, will stop licensing its contents to TikTok from Thursday. TikTok’s “Challenge” videos dancing to songs by famous singers are gaining huge popularity, but if the license is suspended, the songs will be deleted from existing videos as well as new ones. Due to the nature of the video platform business, where the number of views is important, it is expected to deal a blow.
According to Reuters on the 30th (local time), UMG announced that it would suspend content licenses for TikTok and TikTok music services, saying that the agreement with TikTok to renew the license failed.
The company signed a license expansion agreement with social media platform TikTok in February 2021. Through this, TikTok users have been producing videos by attaching clips from music catalogs, including albums by UMG artists such as Sam Smith. UMG said in a letter to its artists and composers, “We have been asking TikTok for appropriate artist and songwriters compensation in discussions of contract renewal,” adding, “If UMG fails to reach an agreement with TikTok, all songs will be removed from the service from the 31st.” He then criticized, “TikTok is trying to build a music-based business without paying a fair value for music,” adding, “The music fee offered by TikTok is far short of the cost paid by other major social platforms.”
“UMG’s allegations are ‘false’ and UMG’s actions are not in the best interest of artists, composers and fans,” TikTok said in a statement to Reuters. On the other hand, TikTok reportedly accounts for about 1% of UMG’s total revenue.
SOPHIA KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
