Travel – Relax – Rihanna, The Weeknd, DJ Snake: Why is Universal Music Group withdrawing from the TikTok platform?

It’s a revolution for one of the most powerful social networks on the planet. Universal Music Group (UMG), a major global leader in the music industry, announced that it is withdrawing its songs from TikTok following the failure of negotiations with the platform, especially on the remuneration of artists and songwriters.

Universal responded to TikTok in an open letter on Tuesday.Trying to build a business based on music, without paying a fair price for the music“. The two sides discussed the terms of a new agreement, with the existing contract set to expire this Wednesday. But it was not renewed.

TikTok responded by judging “Sad and disappointing that Universal Music Group put their greed before the interests of their artists“, according to a press release.

In France, of the top 20 albums in 2023, 40% were produced or distributed by Universal.

Negotiations like a clash between two financial powers that would mainly penalize artists. Universal Music, 28% owned by the Bolloré family, is what we call a leader in the music industry. A “multinational super-company” that, over the years and acquisitions, has sucked up various labels, including artist catalogues.

Among the abundance of artists signed to Universal Music, we find The Weeknd, Taylor Swift, The Rolling Stones, Snoop Dogg, K-pop group BTS, Justin Bieber, Rihanna, DJ Snake and The Black Eyed Peas, to name a few. ‘Them. There Chief It has branches in more than 60 countries and all music genres. It is especially present in France where we find Universal behind labels such as Barclay, Capitol or Polydor. Of the top 20 albums in France in 2023, 40% were produced or distributed by Universal. This shows the power of this juggernaut of the music industry.

One million views on TikTok earns $8

Are the best-selling artists on TikTok also popular? According to a ranking published last June, the top 10 music titles that have attracted the greatest number of people like There are only two Universal-label artists on TikTok, Miley Cyrus and Nicki Minaj. They are at 9th and 10th position respectively.

On TikTok, titles that work are also sounds and remixes that create an atmosphere with various trendy content such as pranks, humorous videos or tutorials.

So will the disappearance of Universal Catalog from TikTok have a limited impact on its users? The presence of competing big companies like Warner or Sony is an additional argument for TikTok in the fight waged against Universal. Especially since sound is essential in the experience of this network: according to internal data 88% of users of the application have this opinion.

According to an independent label cited by American media Billboard, a million views on TikTok bring $8, compared to $500 to $2,000 on YouTube, making it generally considered the worst payer of GAFAM (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft). It is believed. What’s worse, according to Billboard, this $8 figure would be an all-time high, and TikTok’s revenue could actually be 500 times less than traditional streaming services. Major record labels receive royalties from streaming platforms and social media.

The presence of a large number of AI-generated recordings on TikTok troubles Universal Music

A fact that has certainly come to mind in recent conversations. Among the issues raised during the talks “fair compensation“Online protection for users, for artists and songwriters, as well as the protection of artists from the harms of artificial intelligence,” the letter from Universal Music Group said.

But as the conversation progressed, “TikTok tried to bully us into accepting a deal that was priced lower than the previous deal, which was well below fair market value and not reflective of its exponential growth.Universal said.

However, Universal said TikTok has offered to pay.A rate that is only a fraction of the rate paid by major platforms in similar positions,

Calling the sayings of the Universal “false“The Chinese platform believes the record is held by the company”Decided to walk away from the powerful support of a platform that has over a billion users and serves as a free promotion and discovery medium for their talents.,

Although TikTok has a large number of users, it only represents about 1% of Universal’s total revenue, UMG further decried in its letter.

Universal notes other issues such as the presence of a large number of AI-generated recordings on the platform.

For your information, TikTok users can only use 60 seconds of music when creating videos and do not have access to all the songs.

The disappearance of Universal Music artists is planned for January 31. Since the current contract is set to expire on this date, the disappearance of UMG-branded titles should occur in the coming days. Until a favorable outcome is reached between both the parties.