Universal Music Group (UMG) has issued a scathing open letter to Chinese-owned TikTok and warned it will cease licensing its content to the video-streaming platform after failing to renew its joint agreement with the app.
Officials at Universal Music noted in the letter that they regularly strike deals with various partners around the world to ensure their artists and songwriters “attain their greatest creative and commercial potential. ”
One of those partners is TikTok, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, and which the music company described as “an increasingly influential platform with powerful technology and a massive worldwide user base.”
“As with many other platforms with whom we partner, TikTok’s success as one of the world’s largest social platforms has been built in large part on the music created by our artists and songwriters,” the letter stated.
“Its senior executives proudly state publicly that ’music is at the heart of the TikTok experience' and our analysis confirms that the majority of content on TikTok contains music, more than any other major social platform,” they continued.
Universal Music officials said they had pressed TikTok in their latest contract renewal discussions to ensure the social media platform appropriately compensates its artists and songwriters, protects human artists from the “harmful” effects of artificial intelligence (AI), and maintains the online safety of TikTok’s users.
TikTok, however, proposed paying artists and songwriters at Universal Music “a rate that is a fraction of the rate that similarly situated major social platforms pay,” the company said.
TikTok ‘Flooded’ With AI-Generated Recordings
“Ultimately TikTok is trying to build a music-based business, without paying fair value for the music,” the letter said.When it comes to the issue of AI, Universal Music claimed that TikTok is allowing the platform to be “flooded” with AI-generated recordings, and “developing tools to enable, promote and encourage AI music creation on the platform itself,” while simultaneously failing to deal with infringements on artists’ music.
In its open letter, Universal Music claimed TikTok’s alleged actions regarding the widespread use of AI on the platform “is nothing short of sponsoring artist replacement by AI.”
Additionally, the music giant accused TikTok of failing to stem mounting “hate speech, bigotry, bullying and harassment” on the platform.
Officials at Universal Music further accused the platform of using intimidation tactics when asked to address the various issues and claim TikTok attempted to “bully” the company into accepting a deal “worth less than the previous deal, far less than fair market value and not reflective of their exponential growth,” by selectively removing the music of some of its developing artists from the app.
As a result, Universal Music said its agreement with TikTok, which is set to expire on Jan. 31, has not yet been renewed.
A Universal Music Group spokesperson confirmed to Reuters that all of its songs will be pulled from TikTok if it fails to reach a new agreement by Wednesday.
TikTok Slams ‘False Narrative’
In its open letter on Tuesday, Universal Music said it recognizes the “challenges that TikTok’s actions will cause,” and does not “underestimate what this will mean to our artists and their fans who, unfortunately, will be among those subjected to the near-term consequences of TikTok’s unwillingness to strike anything close to a market-rate deal and meaningfully address its obligations as a social platform.”However, the music company stressed it has an “overriding responsibility to our artists to fight for a new agreement under which they are appropriately compensated for their work, on a platform that respects human creativity, in an environment that is safe for all, and effectively moderated.”
“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,” a spokesperson for the platform said.
“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,” the company added.
The open letter from Universal Music comes as TikTok continues to come under scrutiny over privacy and national security concerns, with the platform facing a number of legal challenges in the United States and abroad.
