Last week, Universal Music Group, the record label that represents artists like Taylor Swift, Bob Dylan, Elton John, among others, announced that they were breaking off negotiations with TikTok. As a result, the songs from Universal Music Group artists are no longer available for users of the short video social network and the videos that use them no longer have audio.
In a statement, Universal Music Group accused TikTok of trying to build a music business without fairly paying for that music. The record label stated that TikTok proposed to pay artists and songwriters “a fee that is a fraction of what other platforms pay”.
In addition to purely monetary aspects, Universal Music Group took into account other reasons when breaking the agreement, such as protecting artists from the most harmful aspects of AI or the online security of TikTok users. However, the record label may have underestimated a crucial aspect of TikTok in its business: song discovery.
The popularity of TikTok is largely due to viral videos and all kinds of montages, where music plays a fundamental role. Universal Music Group, which realized this and wanted (unsuccessfully) to be compensated by TikTok in a more “fair” way, also overlooked (or deliberately omitted) that 75% of users of the short video social network discover new artists through the platform, mainly due to trends and viral videos.
A quite well-known case has been the song ‘Hey Sexy Lady’ by artist Shaggy, used in a viral montage starring actor Pedro Pascal. The video, which humorously highlights the actor’s sex appeal by showing various clips of his character in the movie Kingsman: The Golden Circle, has over 45 million views and 4.7 million likes, and that’s considering it was published just a year ago, in January 2023.
Surely TikTok will not stand idly by and it is only a matter of time before it offers Universal Music Group a better deal, benefiting both parties. Will the record company accept it or will we forever be without Taylor Swift’s songs on TikTok?
