Drake, Kendrick Lamar and Eminem are among the countless music industry titans who have had their catalogs restored on TikTok after Universal Music Group parted ways with the social media platform earlier this year.
On Wednesday (May 1), both companies announced a “multi-dimensional licensing agreement” that will once again make UMG’s entire discography available on the platform following a three-month dispute.
“This new chapter in our relationship with TikTok focuses on the value of music, the primacy of human artistry and the welfare of the creative community,” the music corporation’s chairman and chief executive officer Lucian Grainge said about the reconciliation. “We look forward to collaborating with the team at TikTok to further the interests of our artists and songwriters and drive innovation in fan engagement while advancing social music monetization.”
TikTok’s CEO Shou Chew added: “Music is an integral part of the TikTok ecosystem and 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 amazing artists and songwriters, and deepen their ability to grow, connect and engage with the TikTok community.”
The joint statement also addressed the rise of artificial intelligence in music: “TikTok and UMG will work together to ensure AI development across the music industry will protect human artistry and the economics that flow to those artists and songwriters. TikTok is also committed to working with UMG to remove unauthorized AI-generated music from the platform, as well as tools to improve artist and songwriter attribution.”
The two companies failed to agree on a new deal relating to artist compensation and AI back in January, which in turn prevented a number of musicians from having their music on the social-media outlet.
UMG alleged that the social-media platform accounts for “only about 1% of our total revenue,” which they said was evidence of “how little TikTok compensates artists and songwriters, despite its massive and growing user base, rapidly rising advertising revenue and increasing reliance on music-based content”.
They also accused the outlet of trying to “intimidate” them by “selectively removing the music of certain of our developing artists” but keeping songs from better-known ones.
Additionally, their letter said: “TikTok’s tactics are obvious: use its platform power to hurt vulnerable artists and try to intimidate us into conceding to a bad deal that undervalues music and shortchanges artists and songwriters as well as their fans.”
TikTok replied with a furious statement of their own that read: “It is sad and disappointing that Universal Music Group has put their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters,” the app wrote. 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.
“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.”
Universal Music Group are one of the biggest record companies in the world, with several major imprints such as Interscope, Republic and Def Jam under its umbrella.
Hence, the fallout affected numerous A-list artists, including Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, SZA, The Weeknd and Post Malone.
Muni Long was particularly frustrated by the ordeal as she took to TikTok soon after to share her thoughts on the matter, suggesting that she was in therapy because it felt like her career was being sabotaged.
“I mean, it’s not like they are refusing to support my music until I prove that it’s valuable by investing my own money, and maybe, possibly, lucking up on a hot TikTok trend or anything like that,” she wrote, referring to her viral “Made for Me” challenge.
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