Universal Music Group and TikTok have reached a so-called “new multi-dimensional licensing agreement.”
According to a joint press release issued today (May 2), the deal “will bring significant industry-leading benefits to UMG’s global artists, songwriters and labels and bring their music back to TikTok’s global audience of over $1 billion Community”.
UMG and TikTok said they are “working quickly” to return music from artists represented by Universal Music Group and songwriters represented by Universal Music Publishing Group to TikTok “when appropriate.”
MBW understand generic A catalog of about 4 million songs and about 3 million recordings will be available on TikTok within one to two weeks, at which point any previously muted videos will be removed. not muted.
Sir Lucien Grange, Chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group, said: “This new chapter in our relationship with TikTok focuses on the value of music, the primacy of human art and the well-being of the creative community.
“We look forward to working with the TikTok team to further drive interest among our artists and songwriters and drive innovation in fan engagement while driving social music monetization.”
“This new chapter in our relationship with TikTok focuses on the value of music, the primacy of human art, and the well-being of the creative community.”
Sir Lucian Grange, Universal Music Group
TikTok CEO Shou Chew added: “Music is As an integral part of the TikTok ecosystem, we are pleased to have found a path forward with Universal Music Group.
“We are committed to working together to drive value, discovery and promotion for all of UMG’s incredible artists and songwriters, and deepen their ability to grow, connect and engage with the TikTok community.”
The announcement ends a long-running licensing dispute between the two companies.
TikTok and universal music group It came to light in late January, when UMG announced that its agreement with TikTok would expire on January 31, 2024.
Universal Music Group confirmed that the two companies have not yet agreed on the terms of the new deal and that upon expiration, Universal Music Group, which includes Universal Music Publishing Group, will “Stop licensing content” to TikTok and TikTok Music Service.
Along with the announcement, Universal also released an “open letter to the artist and songwriter community” detailing why talks between the two companies failed to reach an agreement.
UMG said in the letter that it has been “pressuring” the platform on “three key issues” during discussions to renew its contract with TikTok, including “providing appropriate compensation for our artists and songwriters, and protecting human artists.” Protection from the harmful effects of artificial intelligence, and online services”. The safety of TikTok users”.
The new agreement appears to resolve these issues.
As part of the deal, the companies said they will “work together to realize new monetization opportunities” using TikTok’s e-commerce capabilities and will jointly develop campaigns to support UMG’s global artists across genres and regions.
TikTok also said it will continue to “invest significant resources in building artist-centric tools” that will help UMG artists “realize their potential” on the platform.
In addition, TikTok said that tools including added functionality to the music app, data and analytics, and integrated ticketing capabilities “will benefit artists both financially and by leveraging TikTok’s scale and engaged community to build a global fan base while enhancing awareness of Online safety protection for artists and users”. their fans”.
Additionally, TikTok and UMG said they will work together to “ensure that the development of artificial intelligence across the music industry will protect human art and the economic flow to these artists and songwriters.”
TikTok has also pledged to work with UMG to remove unauthorized AI-generated music from the platform and provide tools to improve artist and songwriter attribution.
The joint agreement “marks a new era of strategic collaboration between the two organizations, building on a shared commitment to helping UMG’s artists and songwriters realize their creative and commercial potential,” the announcement added.
The statement continued: “By leveraging TikTok’s best-in-class technology, marketing and promotion capabilities, UMG and TikTok will provide UMG’s songwriters and artists with enhanced compensation, new promotion and engagement opportunities for their records and songs, and Providing industry-leading respect and protection.
“We are excited to welcome UMG and UMPG back to TikTok.”
Ole Olbermann, TikTok
“We are delighted to welcome UMG and UMPG back to TikTok,” Ole Obermann, TikTok’s global head of music business development, said in a statement released on Thursday.
“We look forward to working together to forge a path to create deeper connections between artists, creators and fans. In particular, we will work together to ensure that artificial intelligence tools are developed responsibly to unlock musical creativity and fandom A new era of engagement while protecting human creativity.
“Developing transformative partnerships with key innovators is critical to UMG’s commitment to fostering an environment where artists and songwriters thrive.”
Michael Nash, Universal Music Group
Michael Nash, chief digital officer and executive vice president of Universal Music Group, added: “Developing transformational partnerships with key innovators is critical to Universal Music Group’s commitment to an environment where artists and songwriters thrive.
“We are pleased to renew our relationship with TikTok as we make significant progress in commercial and marketing opportunities and protect our industry-leading roster on the TikTok platform.
“With the ways social interaction, fan engagement, music discovery and artistic creativity continue to evolve on TikTok, we see tremendous potential for our future collaborations.”
March 1, Universal Music Publishing A catalog of about 4 million songs used on TikTok without permission joins UMG’s portfolio of about 3 million songs, whose license on TikTok expired on February 1 and was not renewed.
In the days since the bombshell news broke, Downtown, Hipgnosis and the NMPA have rallied behind Universal Music Group in its fight against TikTok.
UMG has also won another backer in the fight: A2IM, a US trade body that represents more than 600 independent recorded music companies, including Beggars Group, Secretly Group, Partisan, Cinq Music, Better Noise and Yep Roc.
In March of this year, Emmanuel de Buretel, founder of the French-based independent record company Because Music and a former executive of Virgin and EMI, came out to support Universal Music Group in its licensing dispute with TikTok.
On March 14, we learned that in the ongoing licensing dispute between the two parties universal music group (UMG) and Tik TokUMG has issued over 37,000 removal requests to TikTok, resulting in 120 million videos is muted.
By the time MBW published that article, TikTok had muted the audio for the following video UMG Authorized music, but its detection mechanism was bypassed by user-uploaded “modified” (speeded up or otherwise altered) versions of UMG-owned tracks.
About a month later, on Thursday, April 11, music from one of Universal Music Group’s biggest stars, Taylor Swift, began reappearing on Tik Tok – despite a licensing dispute between the social media platform and Universal Music Group.
Swift has a recording and publishing deal with Universal Music Group. Republic Records, owned by UMG, is Swift’s record label in the United States. She signed an agreement with Universal Music Publishing Group in 2020.
As we explained last week, Swift is known in the music industry for her extraordinary control over her music.
as hollywood reporter pointed out that Swift has owned the publishing rights to her songs since 2019; at the same time, type It is speculated that TikTok may have “a separate agreement with Swift” as she owns many of her own master recordings.
Swift’s return to TikTok comes about a week before the release of her latest album, the tortured poets department, Friday, April 19th.
Since joining TikTok in 2021, Taylor Swift has accumulated more than 25.3 million Her content has received over 223.7 million likes.
TikTok reports that hashtags related to the singer “continue to receive high engagement,” with the #SwiftTok hashtag growing to over 2.4 million Earn over 20% from video creation and #TaylorsVersion 2 million video.global music business
