You’ll soon be able to hear the dulcet tones of Ariana Grande and Billie Eilish in TikTok videos again now the impasse between the app and Universal Music Group has ended.
The warring sides fell out earlier this year over commensurate compensation for songwriters and artists, among other things, prompting Universal to pull its songs from the video platform. Overnight, a glut of tracks vanished from the service, from the timeless pop of the Beatles to the riot grrrl anthems of Olivia Rodrigo.
After three months of silence, during which users were forced to use royalty-free music in their clips, the two parties have now officially made up. In a press release, Universal and TikTok said they had struck a new “multi-dimensional” licensing agreement that will be a boon for the label’s talent roster and the app’s billion-plus members.
Without going into too much detail, the agreement seemingly addresses the three main points of contention for Universal. Upon taking the drastic step to remove its music from TikTok, the record label had argued that the app wasn’t fairly compensating musicians, expressed concerns about piracy, and pointed to TikTok’s alleged promotion of AI-generated music, which it feared posed a threat to human artists.
Now, they’ve apparently agreed on “improved remuneration” for the record label’s musicians and songwriters, strengthened online safety protections, and safeguards from AI for the music industry. As part of the latter clause, TikTok will work with Universal to remove unauthorised AI-generated music from the platform.
Sir Lucian Grainge, Chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group declared it a “new chapter in our relationship with TikTok”.
Although things got pretty ugly at one stage of the dispute, with Universal telling artists that TikTok “did not value” their music, the two sides managed to find some wiggle room for their biggest star. Amid all the drama, Taylor Swift’s music magically reappeared on TikTok last month ahead of the launch of her 11th album, The Tortured Poets Department.
Since its arrival in 2016, TikTok has become a kingmaker for the music industry. Tracks by new artists constantly break out from the app, landing them on global charts and Spotify playlists. These days, record labels increasingly rely on TikTok to find emerging talent, and have even been accused of encouraging artists to go viral on the app when releasing new music.
