TikTok is about to lose a ton of music from huge artists

What is TikTok if not a bunch of Taylor Swift song clips strung together? We’ll soon find out, because Swift’s music, along with music from fellow artists at Universal Music Group, is expected to be pulled from the app on February 1. In an open letter, UMG shared that its disagreements with TikTok are focused on “appropriate compensation for our artists and songwriters, protecting human artists from the harmful effects of AI, and online safety for TikTok’s users.” Acknowledging TikTok’s increasing influence in the music industry, UMG accused the app of “trying to build a music-based business, without paying fair value for the music.”

UMG stated that the app “has offered no meaningful solutions to the rising tide of content adjacency issues, let alone the tidal wave of hate speech, bigotry, bullying and harassment on the platform.” Regarding artificial intelligence, the company wrote, “TikTok is 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 then demanding a contractual right which would allow this content to massively dilute the royalty pool for human artists, in a move that is nothing short of sponsoring artist replacement by AI.”

“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,” UMG revealed. “How did it try to intimidate us? By selectively removing the music of certain of our developing artists, while keeping on the platform our audience-driving global stars.”

TikTok is indeed an especially important incubator for developing artists, and it has managed to gain an incredible foothold in the music business as a whole. Artists like Halsey, Charli XCX, Florence and the Machine, and more have all spoken up about pressure from their labels to create TikTok content (via Axios). In 2022, former TikTok exec and founder of record label Moon Projects Mary Rahmi told CNBC, “It’s a household name and it’s really effective. It’s still the No. 1 platform that drives to streams.”

According to a 2022 report from Midia Research (via NPR), “TikTok users are more likely to spend money on music, and be more invested in it. 40% of active TikTok users pay a monthly subscription for music, compared to 25% of the general population. And 17% buy artist merchandise monthly, compared to 9% of the general population.” According to Tatiana Cirisano, the music industry analyst who compiled the Midia Research report, “It’s changed music listening from being a one-way relationship where a song comes out and you listen to it on your own, to something that you participate in,” Cirisano said. “I mean, I don’t think that any other social media app has done that to this degree. TikTok is peak UGC [user-generated content] in that way.”

TikTok knows its power good and well. CNBC reported in 2022 that the app’s parent company, the China-based ByteDance, had filed a trademark application for “TikTok Music,” a service that “would allow users to play, share, purchase and download music, according to the filing.” That means TikTok is probably priming itself to become a direct rival for platforms like Spotify and Apple Music, rather than being a “driver of streams” to other apps.

Despite the app’s massive influence and success, “TikTok accounts for only about 1% of our total revenue,” UMG claimed in its open letter. No wonder, then, that that company—which represents international icons like Swift, Harry Styles, Drake, Ariana Grande, Adele, Bad Bunny, and more—is prepared to draw a line in the sand. “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 stated. “We will never do that. We will always fight for our artists and songwriters and stand up for the creative and commercial value of music.”

The letter concluded, “We recognize the challenges that TikTok’s actions will cause, and do not underestimate what this will mean to our artists and their fans who, unfortunately, will be among those subjected to the near-term consequences of TikTok’s unwillingness to strike anything close to a market-rate deal and meaningfully address its obligations as a social platform. But we have an overriding responsibility to our artists to fight for a new agreement under which they are appropriately compensated for their work, on a platform that respects human creativity, in an environment that is safe for all, and effectively moderated. We honor our responsibilities with the utmost seriousness. Intimidation and threats will never cause us to shirk those responsibilities.”