In an open letter posted to their website on Jan. 30, Universal Music Group (UMG) publicly shared their concerns against TikTok. UMG was expressing worrying concerns that the popular social media app was not protecting their musicians against threats such as AI, as well as TikTok not paying artists enough compensation.
The letter stated, “Ultimately TikTok is trying to build a music-based business, without paying fair value for the music.” As UMG and TikTok’s contracts ended and the two companies could not come to a mutual agreement for their future, UMG removed all its artists from the platform. This caused most users’ videos to be muted.
TikTok posted a response via X, saying UMG “put greed above the interest of their artist and songwriters.” They also add that UMG walked away from powerful support from an app that is home to hundreds of millions of users and free promotion. UMG is home to some of the world’s most popular and influential artists such as Taylor Swift, SZA, Drake, BTS, and Ariana Grande amongst many others.
The issues between the two companies are already proving to be an issue for UMG artists. Singer-songwriter Conan Gray spoke with Rolling Stone during Spotify’s “Best New Artist” event. When asked about his thoughts, Gray gave a playful answer, “My career is over, for sure. I’m never going to have a hit song again at this rate.”
Singer Yungblud expressed his thoughts via TikTok, as he stated “Two massive companies deciding what goes on with people’s art. It’s a bit f-ing daft, isn’t it?” He further explains that this serves as a reminder to him, and hopefully other artists, that their art should not be controlled by something as temporary as an app or social media platform, because art is forever.
It is disheartening that so many hard-working artists are constantly being undermined by social media apps, including music streaming services. Streaming services hardly pay artists as is, so for another app to try to do the same (if not worse) is truly frustrating. The music industry has already had to adapt to TikTok’s power, from how they promote and debut new artists to Billboard charts. Now this has become another hurdle that is attacking artists.