Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish may be forced off TikTok amid Universal Music licensing squabble
- TikTok has accused UMG off putting its own ‘greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters’
- UMG says TikTok ‘is trying to build a music-based business, without paying fair value for the music’
ByteDance-owned TikTok has called Universal Music Group (UMG) greedy after it threatened to pull songs, including those by Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and Drake, from the hit short-video platform due to disagreements over compensation for artists.
TikTok said that UMG “has put their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters”. It added that the removal of songs, slated to start on Thursday, would see UMG lose a platform with “a billion users that serves as a free promotional and discovery vehicle for their talent”.
In an open letter on Wednesday, the world’s largest music company blamed TikTok for attempting to broker a deal “worth less than the previous deal, and far less than fair market value”, alleging that TikTok had proposed a rate only “a fraction of” that paid by social media peers.
“Despite its massive and growing user base, rapidly rising advertising revenue and increasing reliance on music-based content, TikTok accounts for only about 1 per cent of our total revenue,” UMG said. “Ultimately, TikTok is trying to build a music-based business, without paying fair value for the music.”
The spat between the two groups has cast a shadow over TikTok’s tried-and-tested ability to sign up new users by allowing them to lip-synch to popular songs. TikTok’s growth was accelerated by its 2017 acquisition of US music and karaoke app musical.ly, which was later merged with TikTok.
