Taylor Swift’s label to remove millions of songs from ‘bully’ Tiktok

‘We cannot stand by and let Tiktok stifle our world leading creative sector with their Chinese tech iron grip’

UNIVERSAL Music Group, the world’s largest record label, has accused Tiktok of attempting to “bully” and “intimidate” it into accepting lower fees following talks over licensing rights.

The Chinese-owned video app has accused Universal of “greed” in response. Universal, which is the world’s largest record label, has been in talks with Tiktok to renew its existing licensing deal but has now walked away after failing to reach an agreement.

The contract expired yesterday and all music licensed by Universal will be pulled from the platform in the coming days.

In a blistering open letter, Universal said: “Ultimately Tiktok is trying to build a music-based business, without paying fair value for the music.”

Universal, which is run by British mogul Sir Lucian Grainge, also accused the social media app of allowing its platform to be “flooded with Ai-generated recordings” that undercut its artists. Last year, the record label forced Tiktok and other platforms to remove a viral Ai-generated song that mimicked Drake and The Weeknd after the label said it infringed copyright.

Universal has previously said AI threatens “widespread and lasting harm” to artists and could spark a Napster-style crisis without robust copyright protections.

The record label yesterday also raised concerns about a “tidal wave of hate speech, bigotry, bullying and harassment” on Tiktok.

It warned artists were forced to deal with copyright-infringing or harmful material such as pornographic deep fake videos, adding that Tiktok’s process for requesting removal was “monumentally cumbersome and inefficient”.

In response, Tiktok said:

“It is sad and disappointing that Universal Music Group has put their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters.” Tiktok, which is owned by the Beijing-based Bytedance, is a shortform video app that has become wildly popular in recent years, particularly among younger users.

The majority of videos posted on the app are accompanied by a soundtrack of music licensed from record labels. Universal dominates the global music industry.

Its artists include Billie Eilish, Harry Styles, Justin Bieber, Elton John, Bob Dylan and The Beatles.

Murder on the Dancefloor, a 2001 hit from Universal artist Sophie Ellis-bextor, recently became a viral hit on Tiktok after featuring in the film Saltburn. Other major labels, including Sony Music and Warner Music Group, have

Taylor Swift’s music will be pulled from Tik Tok in the next couple of days their own licensing deals in place with Tiktok. Sony struck its last licensing deal in late 2020. A spokesman declined to comment on negotiations. Warner inked a multi-year deal last summer.

Tiktok argues that it is not a music streaming platform, with users limited to using a maximum of 60 seconds of any song.

But this argument has failed to pass muster with music rights owners, who argue that songs are central to Tiktok’s success and complain that the company is not paying its fair share.

Universal said: “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 1pc of our total revenue.”

A Tiktok spokesman said: “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.”

Tiktok has previously attempted to show that music is not crucial to the app’s success. The company carried out a trial in Australia that limited the number of songs users could use.

The move attracted criticism from across the music industry. Writing in The Telegraph last year, Damian Collins, a former minister for tech and the digital economy, said: “We cannot quietly stand by and let Bytedance and Tiktok stifle our world-leading creative sector with their Chinese technological iron grip while enriching themselves from it at the same time.”

The rapid growth of AI is exacerbating tensions, as Tiktok increasingly experiments with ways of using the new technology to create music.