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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Entertainment
Ben Eltham

‘We need to break down their power’: why Australian music is facing an ‘existential threat’

TikTok United States Australia John Watson James Clark Tony Burke Music Australia Aria ByteDance National Press Club
The Australian music industry is increasingly concerned about the power wielded by tech industry over artists.
The Australian music industry is increasingly concerned about the power wielded by new platforms. Illustration: Avinash Weerasekera/The Guardian

In February, Australian TikTok users noticed a strange glitch: the app was limiting the number of songs some users could post.

TikTok, it turned out, was using Australia as a test market to find out whether popular music was driving time spent on the app.

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