Universal Music Group (UMG), a conglomerate music label endorsing some of the most well-known artists, has pulled all of their songs from TikTok as of Tuesday, Feb. 1. The licensing agreement between UMG and TikTok ended on Wednesday, Jan. 30, and plans to extend it are not in the works. In its open letter, UMG details that this action results from the platform offering minimal compensation for the open use of the artists’ content compared to other platforms of its kind, among other issues like the commercial use of AI-generated art that has been trending. Artists signed to the mega label include Drake, Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Lana Del Rey, Billie Eilish, and more. This situation could pose risks to the relevance of TikTok in the future among its users and influencers who are invested in popular music.
The Algorithm’s effect on Music virality
To understand TikTok’s monumental effect on acclaim in the music industry, it’s useful to understand how it can appeal to user interests. The app operates largely through the widespread distribution of short-form content, which makes it easy to consume many videos in a short time. The TikTok algorithm is one of the most effective of its kind, seamlessly blending user consumption across various internet ventures, taking suggestions, and effectively recommending more relevant videos and products.
what this means for artist compensation
The relationship between TikTok and the music industry has been tumultuous. The content on the platform can spread quite fast among its 1 billion monthly users, a system that can massively popularize a new artist or spark the career of an existing artist overnight.
Although music can reach a substantial amount of users on the app because of the algorithm, it doesn’t offer the appropriate financial benefits to the artists whose music is used to create the content. UMG reports that TikTok monetization operates on a video-length basis instead of the number of views received per video. So, shorter videos with viral attention have ultimately not been making profits for UMG artists. This brings attention to the platform itself without appropriately compensating the artist for their contribution.
TikTok’s Response
TikTok has issued a response following the letter released by UMG, in which the company accused the label of putting its desire for profit above the benefits the artists could receive from going viral on the app. With these conflicting details on the ends of both companies, it’s difficult to predict which entity would truly benefit the artists involved in the long run. With UMG being a conglomerate comprised of multiple smaller labels and brands, TikTok addresses that the label’s administrative team has the potential to benefit from the economic and social drive the musicians generate.
UMG artists have also used TikTok to promote their work in the past, and those videos are now muted and unable to generate value. Alix Earle, one of TikTok’s most viewed beauty influencers, brought attention to this in a lighthearted video in which she considers making her own music.
Amidst the conflict between the industry giants, fans and influencers are left questioning how they can interact with the content relating to their favorite artists from this point forward. Online communities and the influencers among them are considering moving platforms to continue communicating effectively. Future online media consumption analysis will show whether this licensing event has the potential to change the proportion of informational and entertainment content on TikTok.
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