Us Universal Music and TikTok negotiations broke down! The cooperation treaty signed by the two sides expires on the 31st, but there is no consensus on the contents of the new agreement. Universal Music has announced that it will not be licensed to TikTok. If the two sides do not resume cooperation, TikTok platform users will no longer be able to use songs by universal artists such as Taylor, Wickon, Justin Jr., etc.
According to foreign media reports, there are two reasons why Universal Music can not reach a consensus with TikTok. One is that the terms of the new contract are worse than before. "TikTok is trying to force us to accept an agreement whose terms are worse, much lower than fair market value, and do not reflect its rapid growth." And TikTok is willing to pay far less royalties than other similar social platforms, making Global unhappy: "TikTok wants to develop a music-based career, but is unwilling to pay a reasonable price for music."
As for another reason for the breakdown of the negotiations, it is reported that it is related to the infringement caused by AI. The TikTok platform currently allows artificial intelligence to create, making the platform full of synthetic recordings, resulting in damage to the rights and interests of many singers, but the platform has not actively dealt with it. Universal Music said that if singers want to protect their own creative rights, they still have to go through a troublesome and inefficient process, which is unacceptable to them.
However, the TikTok platform also countered that Universal Music "put its own greed above the interests of artists, which is sad and disappointing." They point out that the TikTok platform currently has more than 1 billion users, which is an excellent free promotion channel for artists, and other recording companies have reached agreements with them, only Universal Music has not made a decision that is really beneficial to both artists and users.
In the absence of a consensus between the two sides, TikTok will temporarily remove songs from all the artists around the world, including Taylor Swift, The Weeknd, Justin Bieber, Adele, Coldplay, Drake and a large number of other famous singers after the current contract expires.