Universal Music Group and Tiktok dispute: Pulling 4 millions songs from platform could be 'seismic' event

Universal Music Group has ended its licensing agreement with the social media giant TikTok as of midnight, Jan. 31.

The step means that in the coming days millions of TikTok users won't be able to hear their favorite music by Lana Del Ray, Post Malone, Bon Jovi, Luke Bryan, Eric Church and hundreds of other artists (representing some 4 million songs) on labels under the Universal umbrella.

It also means Universal isn't backing down on its efforts to up TikTok's compensation for artists and songwriters, which according to the label giant, is drastically below industry standards.

The move has been fueled by contract negotiations and UMG's attempt to get TikTok to agree to "appropriate compensation for our artists and songwriters, protecting human artists from the harmful effects of AI, and online safety for TikTok’s users," according to UMG's open letter housed on its website.

TikTok, meanwhile, has an office presence in Nashville and is said to be looking for permanent office space on Music Row. The company shared this statement via email with The Tennessean:

"It is sad and disappointing that Universal Music Group has put their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters. 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. TikTok has been able to reach 'artist-first' agreements with every other label and publisher. Clearly, Universal's self-serving actions are not in the best interests of artists, songwriters and fans."

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UMG's move is strategic in nature, but will have immediate effects on the company's emerging artists who rely on the TikTok platform to gain visibility for new music. For some, the exposure can be as valuable as the compensation.

Some artists agree with UMG accusations of 'bullying' tactics

RVSHVD is a Nashville-based artist distributed by Universal who has 1.5 million followers on TikTok. He has had multiple videos on the platform go viral, but has also been blocked for seemingly no reason as well. This is something Universal has accused TikTok of doing as a way to "punish" the company.

The UMG open letter states: "As our negotiations continued, 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.  How did it try to intimidate us?  By selectively removing the music of certain of our developing artists, while keeping on the platform our audience-driving global stars."

Jonnie Forster, founder of The Penthouse and Nashville-based Penthouse South, manages RVSHVD and said he has noticed RVSHVD and other Penthouse acts who are "consistently kicked off the platform."

"It's not just RVSHVD," Forster told The Tennessean. "It's happening to other artists of ours routinely and it has caused so many artist relations issues that stem from artists not understanding why one is being penalized with others are not."

Forster called Universal's looming move "the most seismic news in the industry in the last five years."

"Ironically, today we are shooting a piece with CMT called 'Viral to Verified,' he said. "It's a segment about artists who have gained notoriety and built their fanbase on going viral and obviously the biggest base for that has been TikTok."

As of mid-morning on Thursday, many UMG artist's TikTok channels, including RVSHVD, still had audible music attached to the videos. But that's about to change. Music Business Worldwide confirmed that Universal Music Group's catalog will be removed by TikTok in the coming days starting Jan. 31.

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In UMG's open letter, the company stated that TikTok senior executives state publicly that music is at the heart of the TikTok experience and adds, "our analysis confirms that the majority of the content on TikTok contains music, more than any other social platform."

But despite ongoing contract negotiations, UMG says TikTok parent company ByteDance isn't willing to change its compensation model.

The open letter goes on to say:

"With respect to the issue of artist and songwriter compensation, TikTok proposed paying our artists and songwriters at a rate that is a fraction of the rate that similarly situated major social platforms pay.  Today, as an indication of how little TikTok compensates artists and songwriters, despite its massive and growing user base, rapidly rising advertising revenue and increasing reliance on music-based content, TikTok accounts for only about 1% of our total revenue. Ultimately TikTok is trying to build a music-based business, without paying fair value for the music."

There will be friction — and opportunities

Johnny Cloherty is the founder and CEO of Nashville-based Songfluencer, which does entertainment marketing through short-form videos including Instagram reels, YouTube shorts and TikTok. He said without question the number-one source of music discovery today is TikTok.

"If you are a developing artist on a UMG label right now and your audience is catered toward TikTok, this is going to be a big friction point for you," Cloherty told The Tennessean. "I’d point out though, even in our business, Instagram reels and YouTube shorts have increased in popularity. Those platforms are sharply increasing in audience. YouTube has done a great job evolving the platform."

Instagram is owned by Meta and YouTube by Google, which Cloherty said are platforms that have been entrenched in the music industry for decades, unlike TikTok, which is a relatively new player.

"TikTok is owned by a Chinese company and culturally, China is a bit different when it comes to copyright," he said. "They don't value copyright as much as we do. Meta and Google institutionally value music. They've done these negotiations for decades now, so there's a lot more sensitivity to it."

Universal Music Group did not respond to our request for comment.

Melonee Hurt covers music and music business at The Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK — Tennessee. Reach Melonee at [email protected], on X @HurtMelonee or Instagram at @MelHurtWrites.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Why TikTok-Universal Music Group dispute could be 'seismic' event