– Advertisement –
If you are a content creator and probably a fan of Stonebwoy, starting today, January 31, 2024, you may not be able to use any song under the Universal Music Group label on TikTok. Any existing videos with UMG’s music will be muted or removed. Below is why.
The two companies could not reach a new deal on how much TikTok should pay UMG for using its music, so UMG decided to pull its entire song catalog from TikTok mainly to three critical issues:
- Appropriate compensation for their artists and songwriters,
- Protecting human artists from the harmful effects of AI, and
- Online safety for TikTok’s users
According to DTS Africa, UMG claims that TikTok is not paying fair value for its music, and that it is trying to build a music-based business without properly compensating the artists and songwriters.
UMG also accuses TikTok of trying to bully and intimidate them into accepting a bad deal, and of not respecting their copyright. Essentially, they say that TikTok accounts for only about 1% of its total revenue, which shows how little TikTok pays for its music.
TikTok denies UMG’s allegations, and says that it is sad and disappointing that UMG has put its own greed above the interests of its artists and songwriters. TikTok argued that it has reached artist-first agreements with every other label and publisher, and that UMG’s actions are not in the best interests of the artists, songwriters, and fans.
TikTok also in its defense say that it is a free promotional and discovery vehicle for UMG’s talent, and that it has a billion users who love and support music.
In a nutshell, if you’re a content creator you will have less music options to choose from when making your videos. You will also miss out on some of the viral trends and challenges that are based on UMG’s songs(i.e: Apotheke, Into the Future, etc.) You may also lose some of your favorite videos that had UMG’s music in them, or see them muted or deleted off TikTok.
