TikTok users losing access to Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish songs

LOS ANGELES – TikTok users will no longer be able to create videos with songs from Taylor Swift, Jon Batiste, Boygenius and other Universal Music Group artistes as the soundtrack, as contract negotiations between the two companies have collapsed.

TikTok’s access to Universal’s expansive roster of artistes ended

on Jan 31, after months of negotiations failed to yield a new agreement with the world’s largest music company. TikTok has begun muting short videos featuring the label’s artistes.

The high-profile dispute erupted as the music industry’s executives and artistes gathered in Los Angeles for the Grammy Awards ceremony on Feb 4.

“Our agreements with TikTok have expired because of TikTok’s unwillingness to appropriately compensate artistes and songwriters, protect human artistes from the harmful effects of AI (artificial intelligence), and address online safety issues for TikTok’s users,” a Universal spokesman said in a statement on Feb 1.

The label is asking TikTok to compensate artistes a rate commensurate with what other social media platforms pay. Now, it accounts for only 1 per cent of total revenue – though music is a core part of the experience on the app, Universal Music said in an open letter published on Jan 30.

Universal Music also said TikTok is allowing the platform to be “flooded” with recordings generated by AI, which dilutes the royalty pool for artistes.

It also raised concerns about “problematic content”, such as sexualised images of singer Billie Eilish, which reportedly went viral and were seen by millions of people before it was removed for violating community guidelines. TikTok declined comment on Feb 1.

In an earlier statement, TikTok said Universal Music put “greed above the interests of their artistes and songwriters”. The social video platform said the music label is walking away from its powerful promotional platform that reaches more than a billion users.

“TikTok has been able to reach ‘artiste-first’ agreements with every other label and publisher,” it said in its statement. “Clearly, Universal’s self-serving actions are not in the best interests of artistes, songwriters and fans.”

On Feb 1, Swift’s TikTok account, which has 24 million followers, displayed a notice that said: “The music is currently unavailable.” The alert appeared under a tab that previously let users browse her songs.

TikTok published a report in November touting its role as a “launchpad for creating viral hits and breaking new artistes”.

Its Music Impact Report found that TikTok helped users discover music and connect with artistes. It also reported that its users are more likely to use a paid music streaming service, creating value for the artistes.

“Even though TikTok (formerly Musical.ly) has built one of the world’s largest and most valuable social media platforms off the backs of artistes and songwriters, TikTok still argues that artistes should be grateful for the ‘free promotion’,” Universal said.

Wall Street analysts praised Universal for the move.

J.P. Morgan analyst Daniel Kerven said in a research note that the label “had little to lose and much to gain”, estimating it would lose less than US$109 million (S$146 million) from pulling off TikTok, which would be partially offset by users listening to music on competitor apps.

The muting of countless chart-topping songs has prompted shock among some young users, who use the music as background audio for TikTok trends.

One user named Alexa posted a slow-motion video of herself shaking her head with a look of disbelief, adding the text: “What do you mean they’re taking Taylor Swift’s music off of TikTok???”

It prompted some jokes that fans would have to turn to Meta’s short-form video competitor, regarded by some as a less-cool version of TikTok.

“We have to move to (Instagram) Reels I fear,” one commentator posted. REUTERS