Songs by Taylor Swift, Drake, Adele, Bad Bunny and Billie Eilish will finally return to TikTok. Universal Music Group (UMG) and the Chinese platform have reached a new licensing agreement, according to a statement published Thursday May 2, after a dispute which led to the removal from the social network of songs signed by the label’s artists in January.
Both parties announced that they “were now working quickly to return music from Universal Music Group-represented artists and Universal Music Publishing Group-represented songwriters to TikTok in a timely manner.”. According to TikTok, music from the label’s various artists will be available on the application within two weeks.
At the origin of the quarrel: the rejection by UMG, in January, of the terms of a new agreement with TikTok. The record company then decided to stop licensing content from the artists it represents on the ByteDance platform as well as on TikTok Music services. At the time, UMG put pressure on TikTok on three subjects : “Appropriate compensation for our artists and songwriters, protection of human artists from the harmful effects of artificial intelligence, and online safety for TikTok users. »
The AI challenge
Their new agreement would bring significant benefits to UMG’s artists, songwriters and labels, according to the release. “Music is an integral part of the TikTok ecosystem and we are pleased to have found a path forward with Universal Music Group”welcomes Shou Chew, CEO of TikTok. “We are delighted to renew our relationship with TikTok,” for his part declared Michael Nash, chief digital officer and executive vice president of UMG. The latter greeted “ the protections provided [par TikTok] to our list of industry leaders ».
TikTok and UMG say they want to work together to ensure that the development of artificial intelligence (AI) in the music industry is not to the detriment of artists and songwriters. The platform intends to work with the label to remove unauthorized AI-generated music from the application.
TikTok also says it wants to continue investing in creating artist-centric tools that will help those on the UMG label realize their potential on the platform. In December, the social network, for example, extended to more than twenty countries its partnership with Ticketmaster, which allows you to buy concert tickets directly on TikTok. It has also deployed the possibility of adding songs from the application to streaming platforms, such as Spotify or Deezer.