US singer and TikTok star Taylor Swift

Photo: JEWEL SAMAD/ AFP

Anyone who wanted to accompany their new TikTok video on Friday with a popular pop hit had to look for alternatives in many cases. Taylor Swift's "Cruel Summer"? Muted. Rapper Nicki Minaj's current smash hit, "Big Foot"? No longer available on the platform. The same applies to songs by Drake, SZA, Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande and a seemingly endless list of other popular titles from big stars.

They all have record contracts or publishing deals with Universal, the world's largest music company based in the USA. And that lies in the dispute with the social media platform TikTok, which is controlled from China. The previous agreement between the two entertainment giants expired on Wednesday of this week, but how and whether it will continue is still unclear.

What is clear, however, is that the music of Universal artists will no longer be found on TikTok for the time being. According to 2022 data, Universal owns the rights to at least three million songs. If the publishing rights of song authors who are under contract with Universal and are involved in numerous hits also count, there would be millions more titles affected.

Who is greedier?

The dispute is about the remuneration for licensed music and the handling of AI-generated songs. Universal Music argued in an open letter that TikTok only offered musicians and song authors a “fraction” of the remuneration usual on similar online platforms. TikTok is also allowing music created on a large scale using artificial intelligence onto the platform - and wants contractual freedom for this. In this way, the service is actually driving forward “the replacement of artists with AI”.

The next day, TikTok countered that Universal Music had “put their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters.” The music company is thus staying away from a platform with “significantly more than a billion users” on which music is advertised and discovered. Universal Music is not acting in the interests of musicians and fans.

They have already expressed their frustration in the past few days. “What do you mean they're taking Taylor Swift's music off of TikTok??” asked a stunned TikTok user in a video in which she can be seen shaking her head. Others are more moderate: "Why doesn't UMG let the artists decide for themselves whether they want to publish their music on TikTok or not?" asked a fan on X (formerly Twitter). "The company has legitimate concerns, but nevertheless, for some people, the music on this platform is how they find the songs they listen to."

In fact, TikTok, formerly Musical.ly, is now one of the most important platforms for artists to draw attention to their music. Especially for newcomers, it can be a decisive career boost if one of their songs is used by TikTok users for their own clips. In addition, the artists can install dances or performance challenges in their videos, which then go viral through repeated imitation with the song in question.

TikTok itself published a report in November in which it praised its role as a “launching pad for viral hits and new artists.” This “Music Impact Report” found that TikTok helps users discover music and connect with artists. It is also reported that TikTok users are more likely to also use a paid music streaming service, which then also represents added value for the artists.

Hope for numerous streaming views

This means that anyone who manages to get noticed with their music on TikTok can also hope for numerous streaming views on Spotify or Apple Music, if not even the sale of physical recordings. The artists' direct contact with fans via TikTok videos also has a positive effect on the sale of merchandising items and tour tickets. In times when traditional media no longer plays a role in introducing new music to younger consumers, TikTok is an extremely important tool for addressing the target group - perhaps even the most important tool of all, especially for newcomers.

Therefore, young artists in particular are the direct victims of the TikTok-Universal dispute. Like the Berlin R&B singer Futurebae, who released her debut album “BLA” on Universal Music in November last year. The start of a pop star career? Initially probably without the reinforcement of TikTok. On Thursday she posted a sad message to her fans on the Threads messenger service: »Today all my songs were removed from TikTok and its kinda heartbreaking. I put so much time and energy into my videos for two years and now it's all just gone.«

Large and established artists have not yet taken a public stance on the dispute. In case of doubt, they have long had a solid fan base that also supplies their music on other platforms, but TikTok can also mean an unexpected comeback for well-known stars. For example, for singer Kate Bush or the rock band Fleetwood Mac, whose old hits suddenly made it back into the charts thanks to TikTok videos from users who discovered them in TV series soundtracks or elsewhere - and generated new sales.

The British singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor just experienced something like this with her hit “Murder On The Dancefloor,” which was first released in 2001 and which plays a prominent role in the movie “Saltburn.” The film became a pop phenomenon and the subject of thousands of clips on TikTok, which used the song as a soundtrack for memes or user content. Ellis-Bextor is also under contract with Universal.

And what happens next? Universal is demanding compensation from TikTok that is in line with what other social media platforms pay. According to US analysts, this is about the difference between the around $100 million annually that TikTok has been paying to Universal in license fees and two or three times this amount that other social media companies such as Meta pay.

Perhaps the pressure from disappointed fans and artists will persuade both companies to agree on a deal in the coming weeks.

With material from AP and Reuters