Video app
New deal: Songs from Universal return to Tiktok
Tiktok allows users to add songs to their videos and enters into licensing agreements with the music industry. photo
© Monika Skolimowska/dpa
Many videos on Tiktok lost their musical accompaniment three months ago. The reason was a dispute between the video service and the Universal Music company. Now there is a new deal.
Songs from the world’s largest music company Universal Music are returning to the video app after a break of around three months Tiktok back. Universal, which has Billie Eilish and Adele under contract, pulled the music from the platform when the previous licensing deal expired at the end of January. Now there is a new agreement that, according to the company, provides for better remuneration for musicians and protection against the negative consequences of the AI boom. Financial details were not initially disclosed.
Tiktok allows users to add songs to their videos and enters into licensing agreements with the music industry. When Universal declared the negotiations had failed three months ago, the company criticized, among other things, that Tiktok had only offered musicians and song authors a “fraction” of the remuneration usual on other similar online platforms. Universal also expressed concern that music created using artificial intelligence could replace artists’ works.
In recent years, Tiktok has become the platform on which many people discover music – and therefore one of the most important marketing tools in the industry. Taylor Swift recently returned some of her songs to Tiktok ahead of the release of her new album “The Tortured Poets Department.” The musician is also under contract with Universal, but holds the rights to her songs.