Illustration by Andrew Mazariegos-Ovalle
Guns are ablaze between UMG and TikTok. The battlefield trembles with smoke. Soldiers charge, killing whatever comes in their way. History can only have one victor.
On Jan. 30, Universal Music Group (UMG) — known musical artist exploiter responsible for creating a monopoly on the music industry — released a statement that detailed that they were not going to renew their contract with TikTok — known attention span destroyer and data thief and may be responsible for declining literacy rates — that was set to expire the next day. Their reason? TikTok was paying below market value and agreed-upon price for royalties on UMG music, there is a lack of regulation behind AI creation of UMG artists’ likeness, and hate speech on the platform. The result? All UMG music was taken off TikTok after the contract ended. This is not limited to just UMG artists such as Taylor Swift and BTS, but also to UMG writers, producers, and even songs that sample UMG artists, writers, and producers. To understand the gravity of this, I highly encourage you to research the UMG artist list.
TikTok then released a response saying that UMG was making a huge mistake since TikTok serves as a platform that successfully promotes the music of artists, both known and unknown. UMG’s response said that music is the backbone of TikTok. And they’re kind of right.
While TikTok is a greatly beneficial promotional service because of how sounds can easily trend. The app became popular because of the viral dances that accompanied the music, which in turn increased the music’s chart numbers. And although the app is now more diverse, music is still part of the app’s appeal. And UMG owns a lot of frickin’ music.
TikTok royalties only made up 1 percent of UMG’s revenue last year. However, it is too early to tell who the winner is. TikTok might survive and even thrive without UMG.
But at the end of the day, you’re the loser. The people who are affected by this the most are creators, consumers, and artists.
Lesser known musical artists who are under the UMG umbrella now lose a huge promotional tool. Creators who were making money off their remixed version of UMG songs that went viral are now limited in their creativity and can no longer make revenue off those sounds. Creators are also limited in song choice for their videos. Consumers have to rewatch their favorite TikToks without a sound, and that’s kind of weird. Remember, kids, our biggest enemy is capitalism.
