TikTok Hits Back At Universal Music Group's Claims Of Bullying Over Music Deal: 'Put Their Own Greed Above Interests Of Their Artists'

Universal Music Group has indicated its intention to pull its music from TikTok, accusing the platform of employing strong-arm tactics to push through a renewal agreement that is less beneficial than their previous contract.

What Happened: UMG has expressed its dissatisfaction with TikTok’s approach to the renewal of its licensing agreement. 

The deal, which is due to end on Jan. 31, is between the music giant and TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance. UMG stated its readiness to stop licensing content to TikTok and its music services if the negotiations failed to yield a new contract, reported Variety. 

UMG, which has artists like Taylor Swift, Drake, and Ariana Grande on its roster, pointed out three key areas of contention. These include insufficient artist compensation, the negative impact of AI on human artists, and the issue of online safety for TikTok users.

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The group accused TikTok of proposing to pay artists at rates lower than other major social platforms. It also alleged that TikTok allows AI-generated music to oversaturate the platform, which in turn diminishes the royalty pool for human artists.

In addition, UMG criticized TikTok for not taking adequate measures to tackle copyright infringement, content adjacency issues, and rampant hate speech, bigotry, bullying, and harassment on the platform. The music company said that its request for TikTok to address these issues was met with “indifference, and then with intimidation.” 

The company went on to state that TikTok attempted to “intimidate us into conceding to a bad deal that undervalues music and shortchanges artists and songwriters as well as their fans.” 

"As our negotiations continued, TikTok attempted to bully us into accepting a deal worth less than the previous deal, far less than fair market value and not reflective of their exponential growth," the group said. 

In an email response Benzinga regarding UMG’s allegations, TikTok said, “It is sad and disappointing that Universal Music Group has put their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters. 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,” the platform stated.

The short-form video hosting service reportedly intends to remove all music licensed by UMG in the coming days, starting on Jan. 31.

It is pertinent to note, in February 2021, UMG celebrated a worldwide agreement with TikTok, asserting that it "delivers equitable compensation for recording artists and songwriters and significantly expands and enhances the companies' existing relationship, promoting the development of new innovative experiences."

Why It Matters: This dispute between UMG and TikTok arises amidst ongoing concerns about the platform’s content and its safety for young users. Previously, it was reported that investigations have revealed that TikTok’s algorithm exposes young users to war-related content.

Meanwhile, legal action initiated by Iowa’s attorney general earlier this month also sparked fresh debates about the safety of the app for children.

Photo by Eliseu Geisler on Shutterstock

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.