Hong Kong: TikTok is bringing back many of the world’s most popular recording artists, including Taylor Swift, BTS and Del Rey, under a new licensing deal with Universal Music Group (UMG) Drake, even as the popular short-form platform faces a sell-or-sell dilemma.
ByteDance’s TikTok and UMG signed what they called a “multi-dimensional licensing agreement” in Los Angeles that will bring industry-leading significant benefits to UMG’s global family of artists and songwriters and Label.
“Music is an integral part of the TikTok ecosystem and we are pleased to have found a path forward with Universal Music Group,” TikTok CEO Chew Shou Zi said in a joint statement released by the two companies this week.
The new agreement, and the views expressed by Zhou, show the efforts by both parties to resolve the issues and bitter dispute that led to Universal Music Group halting its huge music Table of contents Short video app from earlier this year.
In January, UMG claimed TikTok was trying to broker a new deal for a “fraction” of what its social media peers were paying. TikTok responded by accusing UMG of greed.
The new licensing agreement is expected to result in higher compensation for Universal Music Group’s songwriters and artists, more promotion and engagement opportunities for their records and songs, and related to generating artificial intelligence (AI), the joint statement said. protection of.
“With the continuous development of social interaction, fan participation, music discovery and other methods and Artistic creativity comes together on TikTok and we see huge potential for future collaborations,” said Sir Lucian Grainge, Chairman and CEO of UMG.
In a statement, the parties said they are now “working quickly” to return music from artists and songwriters represented by UMG to TikTok “when the time is appropriate.”
Under the new agreement, TikTok and UMG said they will work together to ensure that the development of artificial intelligence across the music industry will “protect human art and the economic flow to these artists and songwriters.”
TikTok also promised to cooperate with UMG to delete Unauthorized The platform generates music by artificial intelligence and provides tools to improve artist and songwriter attribution.
UMG has previously claimed that TikTok is moving to replace artists with artificial intelligence, based on the vast number of AI-generated audio clips on the platform. TikTok denied the claims, calling them “false narratives and claims.”
TikTok also promises invest Giving artists new tools. These include Add to Music Apps, enhanced data and analytics, and integrated ticketing capabilities to benefit artists.
Meanwhile, TikTok owner ByteDance last week rejected a report from U.S. digital publication The Information that the company was “exploring options” to sell a majority stake in TikTok’s U.S. operations to the tech industry other companies and do not use the algorithms powering the platform. ByteDance said in a statement released on its Toutiao news platform that it had no plans to sell TikTok.
US President Joe Biden enacted a bill on April 24 that would ban TikTok in the country if its Chinese parent company ByteDance fails to divest TikTok’s US operations.
Reuters reported last month that ByteDance would rather shut down TikTok’s U.S. operations than spin it off after exhausting all legal options to fight the U.S. government’s “sell or ban” measures.
