TikTok to ban millions of songs this week after talks with Universal Music break down

According to news from this site on February 28, music copyright giant Universal Music Group (UMG) announced at the beginning of this month that negotiations with TikTok had broken down and would not renew the licensing agreement. The cooperation between the two parties has expired on January 31, and the works of Universal Music’s musicians, including the famous singer Taylor Swift, are no longer available on the TikTok platform.

According to Variety , the latest development in the incident also affects the work of artists working with songwriters contracted by Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG).

The report states that due to copyright split issues, if a UMPG-contracted writer contributes to the song in any way, the song may have to be removed from TikTok. As a result, artists who have collaborated with Taylor Swift, Adele, Justin Bieber, Mariah Carey, Ice Spice, Elton John, Harry Styles, and SZA, among others, may see their songs disappear from TikTok and be used in videos that currently use those songs. mute.

According to the BBC, UMG removed about 3 million songs from TikTok after its recording catalog agreement expired. UMG's agreement with TikTok to distribute its catalog, which covers about 4 million songs, is set to end later this week, at which point all related tracks will likely disappear from the short-form video service.

According to people familiar with the matter, Universal Music is a giant in the global music copyright field, holding one-third of the market share. Recently, there have been reports that Universal Music has been in intense negotiations to renew the copyright contract with TikTok over the past year. This demonstrates the importance that both parties place on copyright issues and that both parties want to reach an agreement to ensure legal use and fair remuneration of music content. Such negotiations also reflect the complexity and challenges of the music industry in the digital era.

According to previous reports on this site, TikTok said in its official announcement: "It is sad and disappointing that Global Music conglomerates are putting their own greed before the interests of artists and songwriters. Universal Music has made the wrong views and statements. In fact, they have chosen to abandon the powerful support of a platform with over a billion users , and this platform is their free promotion and talent discovery tool."

Universal Music said: "As our negotiations continued, TikTok attempted to coerce us into accepting a deal that was worth less than the previous deal. The contract,

is well below fair market value, and does not reflect their exponential growth." Universal Music also said that TikTok has not actively handled issues such as AI-generated content copyright and hate speech against artists. , which is also an important reason for failure to reach a contract renewal.

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