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What Is Taylor Swift's UMG Controversy With TikTok? Is Style Singer Planning To Pull Music?
The Universal Music Group plans to call off the contract with TikTok over a feud regarding payments, security, and AI. The platform might no longer have Taylor Swift, Drake, and more artists' music.
The Universal Music Group is planning to pull its music from TikTok over a controversy regarding the revised payment rates. The company sent an open letter to the social platform on Tuesday, January 30th, stating the issues regarding AI, security, and payments.
In its statement, the group presented that it had “an overriding experience with their artists,” which led them to make the tough decision. UMG said, “We will always fight for our artists and songwriters and stand up for the creative and commercial value of music.”
The label presents a bag of legendary singers, including Taylor Swift, Drake, and Weekend. The Music Group has decided not to continue with TikTok after their contract expired on Wednesday (January 31st).
Why is UMG stepping back from TikTok?
Universal Music Group's decision to cut ties with TikTok comes as a shock to many. UMG revealed three major concerns that hold them back from renewing their contract: Payments, AI, and Security. In their letter, UMG mentioned that TikTok would pay their artists quite less than other social media platforms, specifically, just "a fraction of the rate."
The music group further accused TikTok of removing music by new or upcoming artists to clear up space for the famous ones. "TikTok attempted to bully us into accepting a deal worth less than the previous deal, far less than fair market value and not reflective of their exponential growth," the company said.
"We believe our greatest responsibility to you is to make sure your songs are appropriately compensated, on platforms that respect human creativity, with your music in environments that are safe for all and effectively policed," it added.
How has TikTok reacted to the whole scenario?
TikTok has claimed the whole narrative by UMG to be fake. “Despite Universal’s false narrative and rhetoric, the fact is they have chosen to walk away from the powerful support of a platform with well over a billion users that serves as a free promotional and discovery vehicle for their talent,” stated a source from TikTok.
The revised contract by the music label company highlighted three major points, including providing good compensation to the artists, providing safety to the TikTok users, and not using AI to create a negative image of the musicians.
It would be interesting to see whether TikTok agrees with UMG’s conditions. If not, then TikTok will discard thousands of sounds from their library, most of which belong to the Universal Music Group.
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