The record label Universal Music Group (UMG) has announced that, starting this Wednesday, it will withdraw its music from TikTok after failing to reach an agreement with the platform, so users will no longer be able to use songs from artists such as Taylor Swift either Bad Bunny to generate content on the social network.

The American music label, which has the rights to songs from many of the globally recognized artists such as Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, Bad Bunny and Ariana Grande or Drake, has reaffirmed its commitment to helping its artists and songwriters “reach their greatest creative and commercial potential.” To do this, the company has agreements with partners around the world that help artists meet their goals.

The disagreement between Universal and TikTok

One of these partners is the short video platform TikTok which, according to Universal Music, is an “increasingly influential social network, with powerful technology and a huge user base around the world.” In this framework, the American company partnered with the social network to allow the use of its artists’ music, given that bases its content “largely” in the music. So much so that, according to their analysis, most of TikTok’s content contains music, and in a greater amount than “any other major social platform.”

However, after discussing the renewal of the contract between both companies, Universal Music has indicated that, after the expiration of its current contract, scheduled for this Wednesday, January 31, They will no longer renew the terms of their relationship with the platform owned by ByteDance. As explained by the company in a statement, this is because, in the negotiation on some “critical” issues for the renewal of the contract, such as the “adequate” compensation for its artists and composers, protecting human artists from ‘harmful effects of AI’ and online safety for TikTok users, companies They have not reached an agreement.

For example, Universal Music has detailed that, regarding the issue of compensation for artists and songwriters, TikTok proposed paying a rate that, according to the record label, “is a fraction” of the rate paid by the main social platforms in similar situations. In fact, Universal Music has noted that, as indicative of “how little TikTok compensates artists and songwriters,” the social network represents the 1 percent of Universal Music’s total revenue.

All of this, despite the fact that the platform has a “huge and growing” user base, its advertising revenue is increasing and it is heavily dependent on music-based content. “TikTok is trying to build a business based on music, without paying a fair value for the music”the company has declared.

The use of AI on TikTok

Likewise, regarding the use of AI on the platform, the company has criticized TikTok for allowing the platform to “be flooded with AI-generated recordings.” In the same way that he has criticized the development of tools to allow and encourage AI musical creation on the social network itself, and then “demand a contractual right that would allow this content to be massively diluted.” As the music label has defined it, the latter is a measure that “the replacement of artists” by AI.

On the other hand, Universal Music has also denounced that the platform owned by ByteDance makes “little efforts” to prevent content from the social network that infringes the use of its artists’ music. As she detailed, TikTok does not offer meaningful solutions to problems related to content adjacency, hate speech, intolerance, intimidation or harassment on the platformto. In addition, he has also stated that the only means to eliminate infringing content, such as ‘deepfakes’, is “cumbersome and inefficient.” With all this, the music label has indicated that it proposed to the social network to take measures similar to those of other partners to address these problems. However, he said, TikTok’s response was “indifference and intimidation.”

Universal fights for a new contract

Although the company has acknowledged that Dispensing with his music on TikTok will cause challenges for his artists and problems with his fans, concluded by arguing that they will always fight for their artists and composers and defend the creative and commercial value of music. In this sense, Universal Music has added that they are open to “fight for a new agreement” in which artists receive adequate compensation for their work and in which the platform “respects human creativity” and ensures an “effectively moderated” environment. “.

For its part, according to the statements of a TikTok spokesperson, collected by TechCrunch, ByteDance’s social network, has determined that it is “sad and disappointing” that Universal Music Group has put “its own greed before the interests of its artists and songwriters”. Likewise, he has accused the record label of using “false rhetoric” and has stated that they have chosen to distance themselves from the “powerful support” of a platform with more than a billion users that offers its space as a free way of promoting and discovering music. talent.