After an unsuccessful attempt at reaching a new rights
agreement, TikTok and Universal Music are parting ways, which will likely have
a significant impact on TikTok, considering that music is a key element on the platform.
The decision was announced by Universal Music, revealing
that it will pull out from TikTok on the 1st of February, after a partnership of 3 years. The music company also claimed that the reason behind
its withdrawal has been due to TikTok’s offered deal being insufficient to compensate for
its artists and protection regarding generative AI.
“Upon expiration of the current agreement, Universal Music Group, including Universal Music Publishing Group, will cease licensing content to TikTok and TikTok Music services,” adds the music company.
Universal Music even claimed that TikTok removed the music
of certain developing artists of the company on its platform, as a way to “intimidate” it. According
to Universal Music, TikTok attempted to push the company to agree to “a bad deal that
undervalues music and shortchanges artists and songwriters as well as their
fans.”
According to a report from last November, TikTok users are highly
likely to both discover and share new music in the app, and 75% of the users discover
new artists via TikTok clips. Looking at the importance of music on TikTok, it
sure will be a big blow to the company to have a significant partnership ended.
Moreover, its users are expected to experience major disappointment when they
find a large number of pop songs suddenly missing in the app.
