Universal Music Group to pull catalogue from TikTok

Music from some of the top artists in the world, including Taylor Swift, Adele and Drake, is set to be pulled from TikTok tomorrow amid a bitter dispute over royalties.

Year-long talks between Universal Music Group (UMG), which handles the artists, and TikTok broke down yesterday, with both companies engaging in public mudslinging.

UMG accused the social media platform of trying to bully it into accepting lower royalties from music and of fostering the proliferation of AI-generated music.

TikTok countered by accusing the label of “putting their own greed” above the interests of their artists and songwriters.

The fallout means that all UMG music could be pulled from TikTok when the present contract ends on January 31. It allowed for TikTok users to upload UMG music alongside their videos.

UMG represents some of the biggest stars in the world, including Swift, Bad Bunny, Sting, The Weeknd, Alicia Keys, SZA, Steve Lacy, Drake, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Harry Styles, Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Adele, U2, Elton John, Coldplay, Bob Dylan and Post Malone.

Ellis-Bextor’s Murder on the Dancefloor has been a particular TikTok hit recently, with users filming themselves dancing around houses in a recreation of a scene from the 2023 film Saltburn.

The music company issued a blistering open letter which claimed that “TikTok attempted to bully us into accepting a deal worth less than the previous deal” and the platform wanted to pay a “fraction” of the rate paid by other social media companies.

It added: “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”.

UMG also accused TikTok of “allowing the platform to be flooded with AI-generated recordings — as well as developing tools to enable, promote and encourage AI music creation on the platform itself” and making “little effort” to deal with infringing content “let alone the tidal wave of hate speech, bigotry, bullying and harassment on the platform”.

TikTok accused UMG of pushing a “false narrative and rhetoric” and putting “their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters”. It said that it had been able to reach deals with every other label and publisher.

The outcome of the clash between the biggest label and fastest-growing social media platform will be keenly watched as to who holds more power in the new frontier of digital music consumption.

UMG says TikTok’s success “has been built in large part on the music created by our artists and songwriters”. The platform counters that with more than 1 billion users, it serves as a free promotional and discovery vehicle for their talent.

The label says that revenue from TikTok accounts for about 1 per cent of its total, or about $85.4 million for the first 9 months of 2023. Total revenue was $8.54 billion for that period.

Matt Navarra, a social media expert, said that Universal had more to lose from the deal going sour. “TikTok is in a powerful position right now and has a lot of leverage over Universal. Other labels are signing up … and TikTok can make or break an artist’s success nowadays.

“Universal Music Group may only make 1 per cent of revenue from TikTok by its own estimations, but that downplays all the free advertising and reach and distribution … And how it fuels interest in their artists, their tours, merch and more in the future.

“They will probably make a deal but I think Universal has more to lose here.”