It is now widely known that Universal Music Group has removed most or all of its catalog from TikTok, as well as all songs that include at least one songwriter affiliated with Universal Music Publishing Group.
It's a battle between the world's largest music company and the most influential and powerful platform for promoting music, a platform that has been on TikTok for the past five years. Universal said in an open letter last week that these steps are “to help our artists and songwriters reach their full creative and commercial potential.”
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But for many of these artists and songwriters, this move is actually counterproductive. What has been overlooked in the war of words between both UMG and TikTok is the very real impact on the people who make music.
It's safe to assume Republic/UMG artist Conan Gray was at least half-joking when he was asked on the red carpet last month how he felt about his music being removed from TikTok. If things continue like this, there will never be another hit song. All jokes aside, this comment sums up the fear countless artists are feeling right now, having lost their music's most powerful marketing tool.
“It really hurt,” said Bonnie McKee (Katy Perry, Britney Spears), an artist and songwriter who will release her solo album “Hot City” in May. variety last month. “TikTok is a way to spread the word about new music, but are you muting someone's entire catalog now? Labels claim TikTok is so important and encourage artists to: [be active on the platform]and now you can't do it?
If even multi-platinum songwriters are saying such things, how will UMG's actions affect emerging and mid-career artists?
Alternative pop artist Verskotzi has signed a hybrid distribution deal with Preach Records, an independent label distributed by Virgin, a UMG company. He spoke about the emotional impact of the move in a video.
“As an artist, I want my music to reach as many people as possible,” he said in a recent phone conversation. “If you can't connect right away, you start to realize your biggest fear is that no one is listening to your work. Muting the song was just bankrupt for me. It was very difficult and very discouraging to understand that my negotiation tactics caused me to have a panic attack and was thrown into chaos for a month. It was very depressing for me mentally. It started causing more health problems.”
Indie hip-hop artist Hoodie Allen distributes his music via Tunecore (no relation to UMG), has hundreds of millions of streams on Spotify, and has produced hundreds of thousands of video productions using his music on TikTok. , joined this platform to express the following: his dissatisfaction. “It came yesterday and all my sounds are coming from this platform. Everything I've built here has been eliminated and no one can give me answers. I'm in a panic.” he said He speculated that it was because he wrote one song “during college” with a writer who later signed with UMPG. “Can this company retroactively remove all of my songs because it's in a proxy fight with TikTok?” he said. “Not only that, but they removed albums that were not affiliated with Universal Music at all. And there's no one to help.”
Similarly, Ryan Oakes has had his music removed because his label Position Music is distributed by Virgin (owned by UMG). “I put $20,000 of my own money into TikTok because it worked so well and I got a great return on my investment,” he said. Now these videos that I spent his $200,000 making have been taken down. I essentially spent $200,000 on UMG, which I have no contract with, and had all of my music in the videos removed after UMG told artists they needed to promote TikTok. Ta. ”
Independent artist BLÜ EYES (who uses DistroKid for distribution and is not affiliated with UMG) says on TikTok that most of her songs have been removed because one of her co-writers is under contract with a publisher. (and 335,000 followers). She belongs to UMPG. “Universal, I know you don't care, but you're absolutely screwing everyone. This leaves us completely unable to make any money. “Protect artists.” It's one thing to do this in name and another to defend their rights. It's another thing to do this out of pride. And that's exactly how I feel right now.Like [Universal] I called my bluff, and TikTok called. [their] bluff.It's time to admit [your] Make mistakes and give the music back to everyone. ”
There are many other examples.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of TikTok either. The power of platforms and pressure from labels essentially forces artists to become content creators, often producing videos that have little to do with their art in order to “go viral” or At least they are trying hard to increase traffic. music.
But despite what many music advocacy leaders would like you to believe, TikTok is not a music streaming platform. Official songs longer than 60 seconds are not even allowed to be posted on the platform. So, unlike YouTube, radio, or streaming services, TikTok has very few supporters. Turn to TikTok to listen to music. They go there to discover it. And millions of people head to paid streaming services to listen to those songs, paying artists, labels, publishers, and songwriters money from that streaming (not enough, but that's another discussion) . It's not a perfect model, but it's done.
In an open letter, UMG also cited TikTok's AI policies as an impediment to a deal, saying, “TikTok is allowing AI-generated recordings to flood its platform… sponsoring the replacement of artists by AI. ”. However, it's worth noting that two other major music companies, Warner and Sony, signed licensing deals with TikTok last year and 2020, respectively. Whether they share the same concerns or not, their music remains on the platform.
Big music companies have a troubled history with technology — most egregiously in the early 2000s during the Napster era, when they sued fans for illegal downloads — and their strategies typically involve lawsuits, takedown orders, and walls. It consists of strong statements intended to give a good impression to the city. Coming up with innovative solutions.
However, despite claims in UMG's open letter: “We understand that this disruption has been difficult for some of you and your careers, and we understand how this is impacting you around the world. He is sensitive about whether to give or not.” “We know this may be uncomfortable at this time. But it is extremely important to the continued future value, safety and health of the entire music ecosystem, including all music fans. It’s important.” — Many artists feel unheard and helpless.
Versktozi continued, “Two huge corporations pulling the strings on behalf of artists. We are the actual product and they have nothing without us, but this makes us It showed us how powerless we are.”
TikTok remains music's most powerful promotion platform, and perhaps the most democratic one ever, and is far removed from the set of gatekeepers that have controlled access to traditional radio for decades. it's different. TikTok allows artists of all levels, with or without a contract, to reach millions of new fans for free, for better or for worse.
Perhaps that loss of control is the real problem for UMG.
ali herstand I am the author of a bestselling book How to succeed in your new music businessWebby Award-winning host new music business podcastCEO and founder of a music business education company Ali's take, and independent musicians.
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