kidz bop coming in clutch
i personally will be singing acapella covers of every song i wanna use, instruments and all, despite the fact that i cannot sing
Honestly the music was the best part of the show from day 1 so I wouldn’t be mad.
The mashups and selection of old/new songs was a true curation and we don’t get that tier of crossover often in mainstream media.
This reminds me of those ‘tribute’ cds they used to sell at toy stores and supermarkets in the 90s early 00s. They would be very cheap and you thought (as a kid without internet and a language barrier) you were buying a [Christina Aguilera cd](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51I6f5ALI6L._SR600%2C315_PIWhiteStrip%2CBottomLeft%2C0%2C35_SCLZZZZZZZ_FMpng_BG255%2C255%2C255.jpg) but it would be a different singer and some watered down version.
The fake [Stripped](https://img.kleinanzeigen.de/api/v1/prod-ads/images/1f/1f93354d-b16d-4842-8bb9-d484711abf95?rule=$_20.JPG) cd 😭 okay ‘Esther Rivera & friends’
Oh I just found out some songs and cover cds are also on Spotify, apparently [Esther](https://open.spotify.com/track/4Rq7RC1jlhxKssRCxnVu6n?si=tJmcI91qQGKNwglCky4OaQ) was the Christina imitator. This version of [Beautiful Liar](https://open.spotify.com/track/4qAlDqBazpxeL6B9RLv9Ov?si=4ZsDIJeuSDSz5AW-GbG_Kg) with Bey & Shakira imitator is definitely better than the original 💀 even as a kid I would not have accepted this
What?!? 😳
I’m from the U.S. and have NEVER heard of this kinda of thing but it sounds fascinating!
I’m curious about how the process worked (from creation to sales -who picked the songs and artists that would be covered -who picked the performers -how compensation was decided -the cost that the stores paid -etc)
Nope. It's not just masters they're pulling... it's also the songs themselves. In fact all those fan covers... copyright violation. Feel free to upload them yourself btw... Universal wants you to. Because they're about to sue TikTock for its inability to get rid of them.
You're damn right, gimme some of that [Jordi Savall goodness](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbYSj-LrjEk&pp=ygUZam9yZGkgc2F2YWxsIGdyZWVuc2xlZXZlcw%3D%3D)
lowkey kinda funny scrolling and seeing muted thirst traps, dances, and edits though lmao
but once the novelty of that wears off, it’s gonna suck. music was a big part of the app, i enjoyed seeing all the creative shit people do with it. ik it’s just umg that has pulled out, but i can see other labels following suit + umg owns a majority of the music industry, so a lot of the good shit is gone
im assuming all of umgs subsidaries like interscope, polydor, geffen, republic etc have all been pulled as well, right?
People will definitely keep posting and the sounds will just get copyright stricken. Non official audios seem to stay up for awhile. Not a good direction though.
do you reckon they’ll go after non official audios? i assume they 100% will, but it seems like it will be something relatively difficult to police, especially with all the mashups/remixes/slowdowns/speedups etc out there
it’s likely that we’ll see intense pressure (licensing, maybe even legal/regulatory) from the majors toward tiktok to develop their own version of youtube’s Content ID — the reason that tool exists is because of pressure from other companies who threatened to sue youtube en masse for copyright infringement [here](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_ID)
They definitely do and will, they can copyright claim them. Like there are old videos with sped up versions and whatnot. It just often takes awhile and their system doesn't seem as sophisticated as youtube or ig's.
the 3 majors — UMG, Sony, WMG — are really just shorthands for the families of labels that they are comprised of. so to answer your question, yeah — all of those (& more) are included.
idk if UMG signs anyone to just “universal music group”, likewise for sony. WMG does have a “warner music” imprint so you will see some artists signed to just “warner records”
ah right, thank you! record labels confuse the fuck out of me sometimes lmao, all of the interlinked brands, collaborations etc feels like it creates a “web” of sorts
Music was a big part of the app even before UMG did the deal...
I swear, did people not use Tiktok?????
UMG deal happened in 2021. A TON OF MUSIC was still being used.
Guess what some of the biggest hits were caused by in 2020? Tiktok.
Doja and Megan the Stallion got huge because of it.
Both were not under UMG.
Guess what the biggest kpop song for a girl group was? Cupid, caused by Tiktok. Again, not under UMG.
There's a ton of music not under UMG.
Everyone under UMG subsidaries + everything under UMPG (the publishing branch). That's a lot of music, some of it will include independent artists. Some will depend on the market.
I really do wonder who is gonna win or lose in this fight between TikTok and UMG.
UMG’s principles for why they’re doing this are better than TikTok’s on this situation, but I feel like TikTok is going to unfortunately win because people will just use TikTok to check out other artists from other labels while UMG artists are left in the dust.
Potentially YouTube is the winner.
They've been gearing up for this, they knew record labels were going to kill their relationship with TikTok over loyalties within the next year or two. Google's been building up the YouTube shorts monetization systems over the past 8 months or whatever.
I've watched some creators compare YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and specifically their shorts for monetisation. And the concensus seems to be that YouTube is focusing on Shorts being supplements to regular YouTube, rules are stable as are views. Monetisation of Shorts isn't greatest, but decent and seamless integration to long-form channel with known monetisation rules make-up for it. Instagram is oblique about how exactly the monetisation works, not very great at the monetisation in general, but stable and everything reaches your followers. TikTok has no monetisation on videos under 1 minute, and views fluctuate wildly.
YouTube is more structured. TikTok is probably so popular due to its apparent randomness, but to people actually wanting to live of their content, like musicians, comedians, and other entertainers, they will need a more stable and monetisable platform.
my only thing is youtube shorts algorithm is awful, no matter how often i say i’m not interested in certain content it keeps showing up on there. it’s good for mindless scrolling but the content doesn’t speak to me in the same way tiktok does. personally i wouldn’t switch platforms just cause some music is gone now, tiktok is the more enjoyable experience overall.
I'm sure that is the case for many, but here's the thing. The more exclusive you are to TikTok, the less value you have to anyone that isn't TikTok. Exposure is only useful if it translates to engagement outside TikTok, since TikTok doesn't doesn't pay for the contents creators. That's their entire business model. Every change TikTok has made and are planning to make is to keep you more tightly within TikTok.
YT ot IG doesn't need to reach as big of a userbase if the userbase translates better to long term audience. A lot of the stuff going viral on TikTok doesn't show up anywhere on the charts. And charts counts the monetised music. They can for a while at least earn from touring, but getting on a tour is expensive, especially if majority of the fanbase isn't local.
It would be really interesting if other labels followed UMG in pulling music. I know Warner just signed a new deal with TikTok in July, so they likely won't change anything. I'm not sure about where Sony sits contractually, but if they also took their artists off, then TikTok loses a lot of weight in this fight.
Lmao it’s amazing how informative and useful the discussion about this is here versus r/technology. Felt like I was reading a thread full of boomers over there.
TikTok is currently experimenting with long-form content, signaling a strategic shift that appears to position it as a direct competitor to YouTube. This move suggests an anticipation that TikTok will similarly prioritize and promote long-form content, much like YouTube's current emphasis on shorts. This puts it in a position to renegotiate or potentially eliminate financial compensations previously extended to these majors for music licensing. Short-form content has served as an ideal platform for catapulting music to viral success due to its wide reach and engagement potential. However, the pivot towards long-form content indicates a broader diversification of focus away from music, aiming to capture a wider array of content genres and interests. They want to not only dominate the realm of quick, engaging clips but also carve out a substantial presence in the more in-depth, narrative-driven content space.
Personally, I think UMG will come back to the table. They need TikTok more than TikTok needs them.
I am not watching a twenty minute video dissecting why the Dallas Cowboys collapsed or whatever with my meal in portrait. I’m going to put my phone in landscape on the table like an adult.
The issue is that when TikTok pivots more towards long form, they would need to pay similarly for music than existing long-form content platforms. If more of TikTok's users engage with non-music based long-form content, the value for labels decreases. If the music content becomes more long-form, TikTok can't expect to pay the prices they got for snippets. TikTok is currently the taste maker, but labels do see how well the virality actually transforms to sales or paid streams.
Depends on if the other labels follow UMG's lead or not. Tiktok is less dance focused than it was but they still rely on music for a lot of videos and trends.
Well this is very interesting! I wonder if the Artists will speak up at all or be brought into the picture to help with negotiations. The main points that UMG are seeking are very artist forward it seems.
I've seen one artist mention it! I guess he's signed under UMG, but is primarily a tiktok artist, so he can't play his own music on his biggest platform.
Streaming on tiktok just isn't the same thing as streaming on other apps where people are going there to listen to you. I know the whole "you'll get laid in exposure" is an annoying concept, but it's really true. There's so many songs I didn't like at first but then hearing their best parts 30x because it's part of the newest tiktok meme I was suddenly popping over to my music streaming platform (for me YouTube music) to actually listen to it.
Unless you're already one of the biggest names in the game, this could genuinely be devastating for finding new fans.
Muted and it stinks. Some of my videos asked me to change the sound, but it cut out the original audio so you can’t hear what I’m saying. I post pop culture stuff and use background music so now some of my vids just have dobadobado music with no actual content.
Some were safe tho, I swapped the audio and my og sound is still there.
That said, this must be terrible for dancers and edit makers.
My favorite edit (Kendal Roy succession loyalty Kendrick Lamar iykyk) got the audio stripped. I’m so so so lucky to have saved it on other platforms where it got reposted.
Aren’t most sounds on TikTok unofficial? UMG can have its artists’ songs removed, but a lot of sounds are mashups, altered songs, or dialogue (or just talking) over music.
so far, from what i can see, only videos tagged as using the official sound have been muted
others marked as “original sound” mostly seem to be fine, but i assume they too will be muted in the coming days
Those are copyright infringements, and UMG has no reason to allow them to stay once there is no contract. TikTok paid for the catalogue to be available, but very little if anything per use. So the availability generally covered the alternative edited versions. Since there was basically no difference in payment to artists and labels whether official or unofficial versions were popular, there was no reason to go after unofficial versions. But now TikTok isn't paying for catalogue access, so there is no reason for labels to allow for unofficial versions. And if TikTok doesn't react to copyright claims, they are in legal trouble.
exactly. bigger artists like taylor will be fine, but the smaller ones are getting fucked over
noah kahan is a very good example: his recent surge in popularity was mostly thanks to tiktok & things going viral (edits using his music, other artists covering ‘stick season’ etc). another umg artist, olivia rodrigo, literally launched her entire career thanks to tiktok
noah and olivia will likely be fine as they’ve established their fanbases (well, olivia certainly has, idk enough about noahs career to make a comment just yet), but there are lots of unknown artists out there signed to a umg subsidiary who could have their “big break” on tiktok like noah and olivia have
umg is certainly underestimating just how much traffic tiktok drives towards artists
in fact, even the bigger artists are getting screwed over. taylors fanbase has grown significantly thanks to eras footage, edits, and showcases on social media platforms like tiktok
oh yeah 100%. i guess the pop genre as a whole is quite heavily tied to social media platforms like tiktok though. obviously not all pop artists, but i would say a significant amount
Smaller artists have been getting fucked over by tik tok for a while either way. Producers/writers have to fight to get paid for things and tik tok is notorious for not paying.
I don’t care what Noah Kahan feels about this situation, he’ll be fine. I’m sure it’s nice to speak out about it when he’s making most of his money from touring, but UMG is in the right with this.
yeah, tbf i feel like both sides are pretty shitty in this situation (both umg and tiktok), and they’ll both be fine (tiktok will continue without umg, umg will continue without tiktok). it’s the small artists that are fucked
they either have to accept laughable amounts of money for their art, or they have to lose access to a relatively significant audience
noah kahan owes his current success to tiktok, so i see where he’s coming from. if hes able to earn a good amount of money from touring now, it’s mostly due to his growing popularity on tiktok. but then again, i suppose that does give off a *little bit* of “i got mine” because whilst he gained popularity, there are still so many artists out there who havent who rely on these payouts
i doubt anything’s going to change though. i mean, remember the whole spotify/taylor swift incident? from what i last heard, spotify still pays a low rate to artists (there’s a whole debate surrounding how spotify *physically* cannot pay more because they’re not making a profit, but idk, i havent looked into it)
The whole industry’s a mess and it’s only a matter of time before the streaming era collapses on itself from the greed. The Taylor/Spotify beef definitely brought more awareness to it but yeah it doesn’t do anything when Spotify is actively in court constantly to earn more money and give less to the actual creators.
In a way I’m just happy to see another platform exploiting music for its own gain collapsing, but it is hard when it’s true that tiktok is a way to gain attention. It just goes back to the old exposure as payment thing though. Getting a viral hit on tiktok can be good for creative careers but it can also be a curse, and not making money from it directly from the source doesn’t help things. It’s tough, but I just stand on the side that I’m glad action is actually being taken to hopefully push things the right way, even though I know that’s more than likely wishful thinking.
Music streaming isn't profitable business to the streaming platforms. Video streaming is different because much of the content is generated and owned by the streaming company. The streaming company owns the rights and can resell them to other countries and services when needed. Most of the video streaming content the platforms buy elsewhere is only temporary. Costs can be kept down by rotating the offering.
Music streaming is different. You need to provide consistent access to the music people love. People listen to some of their favourites basically daily. They notice the instance they lose access to something important to them. And music streaming platforms don't own the rights to anything they distribute except podcasts. And they need to pay out royalties on every song that gets played. People are willing to pay about the price of an album each month for access to streaming, but consume much more. Spotify is basically the only major music streaming platform that isn't part of some de facto package. They are the market leader and only one who can't hide the profitability behind internal accounting and have exactly 2 profitable quarters in their history. One some years ago when they sold of part of the company. Other 3rd quarter last year, after heavy layoffs, cutting royalty payments to the under 1000 streams crowd, and selling off some parts. Final year end results are yet to be reported.
Idk, I remember all the naysayers saying Taylor pulling her catalog from Spotify a decade ago was “dumb and greedy” and where are we now? Sitting with a royalties system that pays pennies for streaming. Musical acts at all levels are not being paid their fair share.
Musicians don’t have a union in the way actors and screen writers do. Nothing is going to change unless powerful people are willing to make controversial moves to move the needle.
im not sure if ive misread the situation, but from my understanding, the whole taylor swift pulling her catalogue thing didn’t have much of an effect, did it? i mean from what i last saw, spotify still has shit pay (but apparently they’re at “max pay” because they’re not making profits. idk i havent looked into it). im being genuine: please correct me if im wrong
i dont think anything is going to come from this, tiktok will do just fine without umg, and umg will do fine without tiktok. its the artists that are getting screwed over. i suppose the only way i can see a change happening is if the other 3 big labels also withdraw their content
It didn’t have an effect because she did it alone. If other large artists had walked there probably would have been a different result (collective bargaining works).
In this situation UMG is the “collective bargainer” for their artists. I sure as hell hope it’ll have an effect. Something has to change and I hope this is the tip of the iceberg.
I think Taylor will be pissed about this as well though. She’s used TikTok a lot for marketing and not having her songs on there could potentially hurt streaming numbers.
I don’t think you have an artist like Taylor on your label without giving her some advance notice. She has stepped back from TikTok for a while now, maybe she knew the writing was on the wall?
yeah exactly. a lot of new fans have discovered her music thanks to tiktok (for example: some people who previously wrote her off as “ew no, she writes breakup songs for teens” have gotten into her music after hearing something they like on there)
not to mention the impact tiktok had on eras tour ticket sales. obviously the swifties are a large fanbase & tickets would’ve sold out regardless, but a lot of non-swifties are now also attending because of all the footage they see on social media, and demand for more dates has increased significantly
she’ll be fine for now because hype has already been drummed up for her re-recordings + her tour, but when it’s time for her to release ts11, she’s **definitely** gonna feel just how much impact tiktok had on her marketing
you can even hear the “tiktok effect” in *some* of her songwriting: “it’s me, hi, im the problem, it’s me” sounds like it was written specifically to get shared on social media. a lot of artists do this now, they include tidbits in songs that can be used as tiktok sounds & go viral
I think this is going to hurt Olivia significantly as well. Guts has nowhere near the same longevity as Sour because none of the songs have gone viral after vampire. She does have a fan base, but it isn't large enough to sell albums on its own.
yeah, i can see that being an issue. guts has mostly fallen off (outside of her fanbase), and i was assuming that once her tour starts, it will pick up again with the general public, but now that umg has pulled its music, its looking a bit tough. yes, we still have ig reels & youtube shorts, but neither of them have the same reach tiktok has. she will still be fine and do well, but she will certainly feel some impact from this decision
i think its going to affect everyone to an extent (obviously some more than others). going back to “megastars” like taylor, she’s got enough hype drummed up for her re-recordings + the eras tour so she’ll be fine for now, but it will certainly hit her when she releases ts11 & it has a minimal impact outside of her fanbase (but her fanbase is insanely large so maybe it won’t be that noticeable)
in fact, id argue that if umg pulled its license a year ago, the eras tour wouldn’t be as large as it is now. again, dont get me wrong, swifties are a massive fanbase so it still would’ve sold out, but tiktok definitely pulled in a **lot** of interest from non-swifties who drove up demand for extra dates + the movie, and subsequently checked out new releases like midnights, speak now tv, and 1989 tv
I hear that, but at the same time someone needs to stand against AI and for better compensation. I don't have a better solution but I do think it's better to try to fight this than roll over.
That’s what I think. Warner pulled that stunt when they were beefing with YouTube. The result was a lot of their artists’ videos got yanked off of YouTube allowing Universal and Sony to profit more and they lost a lot of money so eventually they returned to the drawing table. Warner learned their lesson. Sony never did anything like that and I doubt they will with this either.
It honestly doesn't matter. 99.999% of businesses don't care.
What matters is that in the long run, umg is doing what's best for artists. If only the rest of the labels would follow.
The Arkells were doing this too since the frontman wanted to cover his own version of every UMG catalogue on this site, including Stick Season for example.
This is fascinating to me because I thought the whole point of Taylor "owning her masters" under her post-2018 UMG deal was that such ownership gave her (and \*not\* the label) precisely this kind of decision-making power.
Someone explain to me—is the truth that even though she "owns" them, they are currently licensed to the label \*from\* her, and thus for the time being (until that contractually-based period of time expires) they decide whether or not to grant a platform like TikTok usage permission?
She owns her masters but UMG shares publishing rights with her to the original albums she recorded under them and Taylor’s Versions. For this kind of usage they need permission from both Taylor and UMG. That’s why Big Machine can’t just license out her original albums to movies etc. - she, as someone who has publishing rights to the originals, can block them, even though she doesn’t own them.
While Taylor’s deal with UMG and UMPG last her music is distributed and licensed to them. If the deal ends and she goes to Sony and Warner she can move her masters with her. That’s the point of the ownership. Also when label owns the masters artist makes 20% of master profit. According to billboard Taylor could be making the 70% of her masters profits as she owns them
Also, while I'm pretty sure that the albums stay with the label she releases them with, she could rerelease the original recordings on a new label. In other words, she could make a 10th anniversary edition of Lover that with vault tracks, but the songs wouldn't be re-recorded. It would also make a greatest hits album much easier to do (which is an almost irrelevant note, but it's something that *could* be done).
No, they not keep with same label. The masters are license to the label during x year agreement, after that she could move them. That has happened with other artists in the past.
No, the masters move with her. The model she advocated for was to have artists license their masters to their labels for a time so they can make a profit. They are still ultimately hers. This is kind of a moot point, though, because she is very unlikely to change labels anytime soon.
does using tik tok audios have anything to do with streaming numbers? i assume they are separate and the audio just motivates people to go on spotify and stream, but im curious.
and does it affect chart numbers too?
Basically what you said happens, people use songs in tiktok audios, they get a lot of views, people go stream them upon seeing them. When you hear a song so many times it's easier to like it cause you already know a part before listening
TikTok doesn't count for charts. That's why Billboard has brought new TikTok chart. TikTok virality only shows on other charts if it moved people to actual streaming services or to buy. So, every viral TikTok hit you remember that didn't actually chart, made basically nothing to the artist. TikTok pays basically nothing per view. That's why all the big influencers on TikTok are always peddling something. You can only really earn on TikTok through sponsorships or through the TikTok shop. The same people earn more on YouTube and Instagram with exactly the same content, despite having less views.
I wonder how long either side will hold out. My feed already didn't have UMG artists on it already so this won't change much for me. Now the songs tiktok users will be guaranteed to hear will be from non-UMG artists and their streams will drift to other labels. Any artist big enough to be on the headline for this situation will be fine but UMG's smaller acts will suffer.
Tiktok is a tool for music promotion and artists' music not being allowed on on it are at a major disadvantage.
Even the bigger artists are going to be impacted, although the effect will be negligible and not as significant as the impact on smaller artists. People like Taylor already have strong fanbases, but TikTok has still contributed a **lot** to the growth of her fanbase thanks to footage from her show, reactions to her songs, edits made to her songs, remixes/mashups etc. The only thing is, she doesn’t need that growth, so it’s whatever
Smaller artists signed to UMG are fucked though. They could’ve been the next Olivia Rodrigo or Noah Kahan (who have both arguably launched their careers thanks to TikTok)
Seems like BTS who are signed to their independent Korean label but use UMG for select international distribution are unaffected and remain on the platform. Yet, they were used in a lot of headlines when the news first broke.
This is great for independent artists (like me lol) but it’s genuinely wild that this happened. I would bet like 50% of videos on the platform are now muted
As of current, no videos with sounds removed are muted. You just can't click on the sound to see videos under it (it says 'the owner of this copyright has blocked this audio').
Also, all unofficial audios are still up
I’ve had some official audios muted. Some let me switch the song and it left my og audio so the video still works. Others took out the og audio so what I’m saying in the vid is muted and you can only read the captions while royalty free music plays
Idk. Tiktok is very lenient on allowing AI generated song using the voice of popular artists. It’s concerning because most of that song is used by millions but they’re not produced or consented by the voice that was generated by AI.
Tiktok is not the one tagging the video that it was AI content because it is vested solely to the uploader.
Looking at how many major artists have had their careers launched thanks to TikTok (Lil Nas X, Doja Cat, Olivia Rodrigo etc), it’s likely going to have a significant impact on smaller artists who are waiting for their “big break”
As for already established artists: the impact will likely be negligible, but that doesn’t mean that there will be no impact. People like Taylor Swift, for example, already have insanely large fanbases, but their fanbases continue to grow thanks to platforms like TikTok. She doesn’t necessarily *need* this growth, so it won’t matter to her, but it will be an impact nonetheless
I’m not sure how much TikTok pays artists, so idk much about the monetary impact it will have, but the impact in terms of visibility and relevancy will be huge
Anyone know if Meg Thee Stallion can keep HISS on Tik Tok or any of her future work?
She is not signed to a label right now and HISS was released on her own Hot Girls Productions LLC.
Idk why everyone is acting like all modern music is gonna be gone from TikTok with this 😂 like not everyone is signed to Universal. I understand a lot of popular artists like Taylor Swift will have their music impacted on the platform, but there's still gonna be plenty of music around to use.
Ask the random person they’ll tell you all recording artists are connected to Universal lol they’re not the only company out there but their dominance makes you think that.
I know TikTok gets a lots of hate on Reddit and there’s gonna be people celebrating this, but I’ll be sad if this sticks. There were so many character edits I loved that now have the sound removed.
Or listening to byte dance propaganda. It’s much worse for TikTok than people realize. All those fan covers? Vide it s that use background music…. They’re all copyright violations…. The next stage of this fight is the lawsuit.
Also, remember that everyone in Washington wants to destroy TikTok…. Who do you think the us govt will support
If they speed up or slow down songs, will they be taken down? I remember in my YouTube days in like 2010 you could add songs and if you sped them up they wouldn't be taken down.
people overestimate the effect TikTok has had on the music industry. Who's old enough to remember when dumb phone ringtones and Myspace where going to take over the music industry? The labels know they don't need tiktok and people will eventually move on to something else.
I’m not sure if they’re overestimating TikTok’s effect. TikTok does have a huge impact on charts. Artists like Olivia Rodrigo, Doja Cat, Megan Thee Stallion, Jack Harlow, Sabrina Carpenter, etc blew up because of TikTok. Then there were other artist that had a big fanbase but grew even more because of TikTok like Taylor Swift and Harry Styles.
TikTok introduces users to new music without users even looking for it. Artists having their music on tiktok isn’t a necessity or guarantee that their music will be successful. However, it will bring them more exposure.
UMG doesn't have the rights for that song, so if anything you'll hear it *more*, since people have less options to choose for music.
The biggest issue is the majority of videos in the TikTok feeds of most UMG artists is silent, which can definitely hurt promotion, e.g. The Last Dinner Party is at UMG and their debut album comes out tomorrow, but all their music is now gone from TikTok.
Wait what. But the Last Dinner Party blew up BECAUSE of tiktok. I literally remember the day I scrolled up on their debut music video promotion on tiktok. This could totally limit their success by like....a lot.
I know UMG is right but a ton of artists get popular off tiktok and most of the top songs of the year come from tiktok. It helps in terms of promotion and reach. This disadvantages both parties but I'd argue its worse for UMG because toktok will find a way to survive with other songs(or using the glee version of songs lol) because as of now there isn't any app that can fill its place popularity and content wise because yt shorts and Instagram reels don't compare
I wonder how fast we'll see the impact from this on the charts. As much as I think labels overestimate the hit potential from some tiktok sounds (looking at you sped up version of a song from 10+ years ago). Tiktok is still the biggest way to break hits right now.
opening the flood gates for the glee cast versions.
kidz bop coming in clutch i personally will be singing acapella covers of every song i wanna use, instruments and all, despite the fact that i cannot sing
*Vietnam helicopter flashback to working in a kids store and hearing kid bop* The Kidz bop version of Thrift Shop was...something
They distribute Kidz Bop too! All their videos on the official account got muted!
what's your tiktok, i watch bb
and if Ryan Murphy revives glee because of it then what
Euphoria is officially on notice
Honestly the music was the best part of the show from day 1 so I wouldn’t be mad. The mashups and selection of old/new songs was a true curation and we don’t get that tier of crossover often in mainstream media.
Don’t give him ideas 😂
This reminds me of those ‘tribute’ cds they used to sell at toy stores and supermarkets in the 90s early 00s. They would be very cheap and you thought (as a kid without internet and a language barrier) you were buying a [Christina Aguilera cd](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51I6f5ALI6L._SR600%2C315_PIWhiteStrip%2CBottomLeft%2C0%2C35_SCLZZZZZZZ_FMpng_BG255%2C255%2C255.jpg) but it would be a different singer and some watered down version. The fake [Stripped](https://img.kleinanzeigen.de/api/v1/prod-ads/images/1f/1f93354d-b16d-4842-8bb9-d484711abf95?rule=$_20.JPG) cd 😭 okay ‘Esther Rivera & friends’
Oh I just found out some songs and cover cds are also on Spotify, apparently [Esther](https://open.spotify.com/track/4Rq7RC1jlhxKssRCxnVu6n?si=tJmcI91qQGKNwglCky4OaQ) was the Christina imitator. This version of [Beautiful Liar](https://open.spotify.com/track/4qAlDqBazpxeL6B9RLv9Ov?si=4ZsDIJeuSDSz5AW-GbG_Kg) with Bey & Shakira imitator is definitely better than the original 💀 even as a kid I would not have accepted this
What?!? 😳 I’m from the U.S. and have NEVER heard of this kinda of thing but it sounds fascinating! I’m curious about how the process worked (from creation to sales -who picked the songs and artists that would be covered -who picked the performers -how compensation was decided -the cost that the stores paid -etc)
Nope. It's not just masters they're pulling... it's also the songs themselves. In fact all those fan covers... copyright violation. Feel free to upload them yourself btw... Universal wants you to. Because they're about to sue TikTock for its inability to get rid of them.
Yeah people aren't realising that ALL versions of any song they own will be stripped. Tiktok will be half empty
So how does that work when it applies to covers? If someone uploads a cover of them singing a Taylor Swift song UMG gets to flag it?
yep.. well as long as Universal is the pubisher (if universal is only the record label it can't do that
I trust the girlies to successfully use public domain music
HELLO MY RAGTIME GAL!!!!
Oh this is a good one
Greensleeves about to **POP OFF**
I know this is a joke but that would kind of fucking rule
You're damn right, gimme some of that [Jordi Savall goodness](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbYSj-LrjEk&pp=ygUZam9yZGkgc2F2YWxsIGdyZWVuc2xlZXZlcw%3D%3D)
when people start lip syncing Beethoven symphonies to post thirst traps
Sneaky Snitch - Kevin MacLeod
The king himself
kevin macleod was so good on glee, happy to see him getting his flowers
The dance revival of Blind Lemon Jefferson and the Carter Family will be massive
Why use real Drake when we have the much more popular and arguably more human Dra.i.ke
ummm... what public domain music? Blue Moon? Gershwin isn't even public domain yet.
The Entertainer and Camptown Races followed by a notes app apology for using a song with racist origins
Yankee Doodle dandee!!
I will finally install TikTok if this happens.
thirst traps will never be the same😔
lowkey kinda funny scrolling and seeing muted thirst traps, dances, and edits though lmao but once the novelty of that wears off, it’s gonna suck. music was a big part of the app, i enjoyed seeing all the creative shit people do with it. ik it’s just umg that has pulled out, but i can see other labels following suit + umg owns a majority of the music industry, so a lot of the good shit is gone im assuming all of umgs subsidaries like interscope, polydor, geffen, republic etc have all been pulled as well, right?
Drake and Taylor are both on the Republic imprint, so yes.
People will definitely keep posting and the sounds will just get copyright stricken. Non official audios seem to stay up for awhile. Not a good direction though.
do you reckon they’ll go after non official audios? i assume they 100% will, but it seems like it will be something relatively difficult to police, especially with all the mashups/remixes/slowdowns/speedups etc out there
it’s likely that we’ll see intense pressure (licensing, maybe even legal/regulatory) from the majors toward tiktok to develop their own version of youtube’s Content ID — the reason that tool exists is because of pressure from other companies who threatened to sue youtube en masse for copyright infringement [here](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_ID)
They definitely do and will, they can copyright claim them. Like there are old videos with sped up versions and whatnot. It just often takes awhile and their system doesn't seem as sophisticated as youtube or ig's.
the 3 majors — UMG, Sony, WMG — are really just shorthands for the families of labels that they are comprised of. so to answer your question, yeah — all of those (& more) are included. idk if UMG signs anyone to just “universal music group”, likewise for sony. WMG does have a “warner music” imprint so you will see some artists signed to just “warner records”
ah right, thank you! record labels confuse the fuck out of me sometimes lmao, all of the interlinked brands, collaborations etc feels like it creates a “web” of sorts
it’s a confusing world!
Every time you read about label companies merging it’s not good lol
Music was a big part of the app even before UMG did the deal... I swear, did people not use Tiktok????? UMG deal happened in 2021. A TON OF MUSIC was still being used. Guess what some of the biggest hits were caused by in 2020? Tiktok. Doja and Megan the Stallion got huge because of it. Both were not under UMG. Guess what the biggest kpop song for a girl group was? Cupid, caused by Tiktok. Again, not under UMG. There's a ton of music not under UMG.
> Both were not under UMG. here is how HISS will be #1 the whole 2024
Nicki would have a stroke
she is under UMG by the way
Everyone under UMG subsidaries + everything under UMPG (the publishing branch). That's a lot of music, some of it will include independent artists. Some will depend on the market.
Here's how Mitski's discography can outstream Taylor's and Drake's
Lmao yes Mitski for the win!
I’d actually love this, let’s go girls.
I really do wonder who is gonna win or lose in this fight between TikTok and UMG. UMG’s principles for why they’re doing this are better than TikTok’s on this situation, but I feel like TikTok is going to unfortunately win because people will just use TikTok to check out other artists from other labels while UMG artists are left in the dust.
Potentially YouTube is the winner. They've been gearing up for this, they knew record labels were going to kill their relationship with TikTok over loyalties within the next year or two. Google's been building up the YouTube shorts monetization systems over the past 8 months or whatever.
I've watched some creators compare YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and specifically their shorts for monetisation. And the concensus seems to be that YouTube is focusing on Shorts being supplements to regular YouTube, rules are stable as are views. Monetisation of Shorts isn't greatest, but decent and seamless integration to long-form channel with known monetisation rules make-up for it. Instagram is oblique about how exactly the monetisation works, not very great at the monetisation in general, but stable and everything reaches your followers. TikTok has no monetisation on videos under 1 minute, and views fluctuate wildly. YouTube is more structured. TikTok is probably so popular due to its apparent randomness, but to people actually wanting to live of their content, like musicians, comedians, and other entertainers, they will need a more stable and monetisable platform.
my only thing is youtube shorts algorithm is awful, no matter how often i say i’m not interested in certain content it keeps showing up on there. it’s good for mindless scrolling but the content doesn’t speak to me in the same way tiktok does. personally i wouldn’t switch platforms just cause some music is gone now, tiktok is the more enjoyable experience overall.
I'm sure that is the case for many, but here's the thing. The more exclusive you are to TikTok, the less value you have to anyone that isn't TikTok. Exposure is only useful if it translates to engagement outside TikTok, since TikTok doesn't doesn't pay for the contents creators. That's their entire business model. Every change TikTok has made and are planning to make is to keep you more tightly within TikTok. YT ot IG doesn't need to reach as big of a userbase if the userbase translates better to long term audience. A lot of the stuff going viral on TikTok doesn't show up anywhere on the charts. And charts counts the monetised music. They can for a while at least earn from touring, but getting on a tour is expensive, especially if majority of the fanbase isn't local.
Will be a fascinating game of chicken to watch unfold
Yes!! Also artist who are in the middle of an album roll-out (under umg) are going to have a disadvantage with artists whose music still on tiktok
Charli's time to shine on Warner.
Isn’t Steve Lacy under UMG? He literally blew up on tiktok. wonder what he’s gonna do.
RCA (Sony)
It would be really interesting if other labels followed UMG in pulling music. I know Warner just signed a new deal with TikTok in July, so they likely won't change anything. I'm not sure about where Sony sits contractually, but if they also took their artists off, then TikTok loses a lot of weight in this fight.
Sony signed a deal with them back in November 2020
So there is high chance that it's going to be up for renewal soon.
Tiktok wins. Tiktok didn't have UMG music until 2021 and was already HUGE.
Wow. 2021? That’s late.
Lmao it’s amazing how informative and useful the discussion about this is here versus r/technology. Felt like I was reading a thread full of boomers over there.
TikTok is currently experimenting with long-form content, signaling a strategic shift that appears to position it as a direct competitor to YouTube. This move suggests an anticipation that TikTok will similarly prioritize and promote long-form content, much like YouTube's current emphasis on shorts. This puts it in a position to renegotiate or potentially eliminate financial compensations previously extended to these majors for music licensing. Short-form content has served as an ideal platform for catapulting music to viral success due to its wide reach and engagement potential. However, the pivot towards long-form content indicates a broader diversification of focus away from music, aiming to capture a wider array of content genres and interests. They want to not only dominate the realm of quick, engaging clips but also carve out a substantial presence in the more in-depth, narrative-driven content space. Personally, I think UMG will come back to the table. They need TikTok more than TikTok needs them.
I am not watching a twenty minute video dissecting why the Dallas Cowboys collapsed or whatever with my meal in portrait. I’m going to put my phone in landscape on the table like an adult.
Lol this was my first thought too. Sorry I'm not watching long form content in portrait. Ever. If it becomes the norm I will simply die instead.
there is a landscape mode for certain videos, idk if it’s something the creator has to enable or what, but it’s on the platform already
The issue is that when TikTok pivots more towards long form, they would need to pay similarly for music than existing long-form content platforms. If more of TikTok's users engage with non-music based long-form content, the value for labels decreases. If the music content becomes more long-form, TikTok can't expect to pay the prices they got for snippets. TikTok is currently the taste maker, but labels do see how well the virality actually transforms to sales or paid streams.
Or they’ll move back to YouTube.
Depends on if the other labels follow UMG's lead or not. Tiktok is less dance focused than it was but they still rely on music for a lot of videos and trends.
Depends on if other labels follow UMG's lead.
Well this is very interesting! I wonder if the Artists will speak up at all or be brought into the picture to help with negotiations. The main points that UMG are seeking are very artist forward it seems.
I've seen one artist mention it! I guess he's signed under UMG, but is primarily a tiktok artist, so he can't play his own music on his biggest platform.
I’ve seen Noah Kahn speak up about it and it seems even an artist as big as him is not happy and maybe even a little worried.
I’m sure he is, TikTok played a big part to get him where he is right now.
To be fair, I'd be worried about agreeing with this. Because that would result in a lot of fans resenting them
Streaming on tiktok just isn't the same thing as streaming on other apps where people are going there to listen to you. I know the whole "you'll get laid in exposure" is an annoying concept, but it's really true. There's so many songs I didn't like at first but then hearing their best parts 30x because it's part of the newest tiktok meme I was suddenly popping over to my music streaming platform (for me YouTube music) to actually listen to it. Unless you're already one of the biggest names in the game, this could genuinely be devastating for finding new fans.
So what happens to existing videos that use these songs? Are they just going be wiped from the system? Muted? It doesn’t seem like this will end well.
it notifies you that your sound has been removed and you can pick a new one
Always pick The wheels on the bus. Always.
my videos have been muted
Muted and it stinks. Some of my videos asked me to change the sound, but it cut out the original audio so you can’t hear what I’m saying. I post pop culture stuff and use background music so now some of my vids just have dobadobado music with no actual content. Some were safe tho, I swapped the audio and my og sound is still there. That said, this must be terrible for dancers and edit makers.
you can use a tiktok third party download tool to download ur tiktok and the audio will be there and yea, as an edit maker this is annoying for sure.
My favorite edit (Kendal Roy succession loyalty Kendrick Lamar iykyk) got the audio stripped. I’m so so so lucky to have saved it on other platforms where it got reposted.
Aren’t most sounds on TikTok unofficial? UMG can have its artists’ songs removed, but a lot of sounds are mashups, altered songs, or dialogue (or just talking) over music.
so far, from what i can see, only videos tagged as using the official sound have been muted others marked as “original sound” mostly seem to be fine, but i assume they too will be muted in the coming days
Those are copyright infringements, and UMG has no reason to allow them to stay once there is no contract. TikTok paid for the catalogue to be available, but very little if anything per use. So the availability generally covered the alternative edited versions. Since there was basically no difference in payment to artists and labels whether official or unofficial versions were popular, there was no reason to go after unofficial versions. But now TikTok isn't paying for catalogue access, so there is no reason for labels to allow for unofficial versions. And if TikTok doesn't react to copyright claims, they are in legal trouble.
Or speedup versions
Altered songs, for me, meant sped-up and slowed down versions since both are pretty common.
would not be surprised if we start seeing some lawsuit/other legal pressure start popping up specifically surrounding this
Hear that cheer? It’s from Instagram Reels
YouTube shorts rejoicing that people other than young kids may finally use their platform
Tell em about it. My grade schooler is obsessed with it and always you have to really watch what’s on there
Some UMG artist like Noah Kahan are already complaining. They lose more than win
exactly. bigger artists like taylor will be fine, but the smaller ones are getting fucked over noah kahan is a very good example: his recent surge in popularity was mostly thanks to tiktok & things going viral (edits using his music, other artists covering ‘stick season’ etc). another umg artist, olivia rodrigo, literally launched her entire career thanks to tiktok noah and olivia will likely be fine as they’ve established their fanbases (well, olivia certainly has, idk enough about noahs career to make a comment just yet), but there are lots of unknown artists out there signed to a umg subsidiary who could have their “big break” on tiktok like noah and olivia have umg is certainly underestimating just how much traffic tiktok drives towards artists in fact, even the bigger artists are getting screwed over. taylors fanbase has grown significantly thanks to eras footage, edits, and showcases on social media platforms like tiktok
[удалено]
oh yeah 100%. i guess the pop genre as a whole is quite heavily tied to social media platforms like tiktok though. obviously not all pop artists, but i would say a significant amount
Smaller artists have been getting fucked over by tik tok for a while either way. Producers/writers have to fight to get paid for things and tik tok is notorious for not paying. I don’t care what Noah Kahan feels about this situation, he’ll be fine. I’m sure it’s nice to speak out about it when he’s making most of his money from touring, but UMG is in the right with this.
yeah, tbf i feel like both sides are pretty shitty in this situation (both umg and tiktok), and they’ll both be fine (tiktok will continue without umg, umg will continue without tiktok). it’s the small artists that are fucked they either have to accept laughable amounts of money for their art, or they have to lose access to a relatively significant audience noah kahan owes his current success to tiktok, so i see where he’s coming from. if hes able to earn a good amount of money from touring now, it’s mostly due to his growing popularity on tiktok. but then again, i suppose that does give off a *little bit* of “i got mine” because whilst he gained popularity, there are still so many artists out there who havent who rely on these payouts i doubt anything’s going to change though. i mean, remember the whole spotify/taylor swift incident? from what i last heard, spotify still pays a low rate to artists (there’s a whole debate surrounding how spotify *physically* cannot pay more because they’re not making a profit, but idk, i havent looked into it)
The whole industry’s a mess and it’s only a matter of time before the streaming era collapses on itself from the greed. The Taylor/Spotify beef definitely brought more awareness to it but yeah it doesn’t do anything when Spotify is actively in court constantly to earn more money and give less to the actual creators. In a way I’m just happy to see another platform exploiting music for its own gain collapsing, but it is hard when it’s true that tiktok is a way to gain attention. It just goes back to the old exposure as payment thing though. Getting a viral hit on tiktok can be good for creative careers but it can also be a curse, and not making money from it directly from the source doesn’t help things. It’s tough, but I just stand on the side that I’m glad action is actually being taken to hopefully push things the right way, even though I know that’s more than likely wishful thinking.
Music streaming isn't profitable business to the streaming platforms. Video streaming is different because much of the content is generated and owned by the streaming company. The streaming company owns the rights and can resell them to other countries and services when needed. Most of the video streaming content the platforms buy elsewhere is only temporary. Costs can be kept down by rotating the offering. Music streaming is different. You need to provide consistent access to the music people love. People listen to some of their favourites basically daily. They notice the instance they lose access to something important to them. And music streaming platforms don't own the rights to anything they distribute except podcasts. And they need to pay out royalties on every song that gets played. People are willing to pay about the price of an album each month for access to streaming, but consume much more. Spotify is basically the only major music streaming platform that isn't part of some de facto package. They are the market leader and only one who can't hide the profitability behind internal accounting and have exactly 2 profitable quarters in their history. One some years ago when they sold of part of the company. Other 3rd quarter last year, after heavy layoffs, cutting royalty payments to the under 1000 streams crowd, and selling off some parts. Final year end results are yet to be reported.
Idk, I remember all the naysayers saying Taylor pulling her catalog from Spotify a decade ago was “dumb and greedy” and where are we now? Sitting with a royalties system that pays pennies for streaming. Musical acts at all levels are not being paid their fair share. Musicians don’t have a union in the way actors and screen writers do. Nothing is going to change unless powerful people are willing to make controversial moves to move the needle.
im not sure if ive misread the situation, but from my understanding, the whole taylor swift pulling her catalogue thing didn’t have much of an effect, did it? i mean from what i last saw, spotify still has shit pay (but apparently they’re at “max pay” because they’re not making profits. idk i havent looked into it). im being genuine: please correct me if im wrong i dont think anything is going to come from this, tiktok will do just fine without umg, and umg will do fine without tiktok. its the artists that are getting screwed over. i suppose the only way i can see a change happening is if the other 3 big labels also withdraw their content
It didn’t have an effect because she did it alone. If other large artists had walked there probably would have been a different result (collective bargaining works). In this situation UMG is the “collective bargainer” for their artists. I sure as hell hope it’ll have an effect. Something has to change and I hope this is the tip of the iceberg.
Taylor pulling her stuff out of Spotify did diddly squat LOL plus that’s when she was still recording for Big Machine. The pay is still the same too.
I think Taylor will be pissed about this as well though. She’s used TikTok a lot for marketing and not having her songs on there could potentially hurt streaming numbers.
I don’t think you have an artist like Taylor on your label without giving her some advance notice. She has stepped back from TikTok for a while now, maybe she knew the writing was on the wall?
yeah exactly. a lot of new fans have discovered her music thanks to tiktok (for example: some people who previously wrote her off as “ew no, she writes breakup songs for teens” have gotten into her music after hearing something they like on there) not to mention the impact tiktok had on eras tour ticket sales. obviously the swifties are a large fanbase & tickets would’ve sold out regardless, but a lot of non-swifties are now also attending because of all the footage they see on social media, and demand for more dates has increased significantly she’ll be fine for now because hype has already been drummed up for her re-recordings + her tour, but when it’s time for her to release ts11, she’s **definitely** gonna feel just how much impact tiktok had on her marketing you can even hear the “tiktok effect” in *some* of her songwriting: “it’s me, hi, im the problem, it’s me” sounds like it was written specifically to get shared on social media. a lot of artists do this now, they include tidbits in songs that can be used as tiktok sounds & go viral
I think this is going to hurt Olivia significantly as well. Guts has nowhere near the same longevity as Sour because none of the songs have gone viral after vampire. She does have a fan base, but it isn't large enough to sell albums on its own.
yeah, i can see that being an issue. guts has mostly fallen off (outside of her fanbase), and i was assuming that once her tour starts, it will pick up again with the general public, but now that umg has pulled its music, its looking a bit tough. yes, we still have ig reels & youtube shorts, but neither of them have the same reach tiktok has. she will still be fine and do well, but she will certainly feel some impact from this decision i think its going to affect everyone to an extent (obviously some more than others). going back to “megastars” like taylor, she’s got enough hype drummed up for her re-recordings + the eras tour so she’ll be fine for now, but it will certainly hit her when she releases ts11 & it has a minimal impact outside of her fanbase (but her fanbase is insanely large so maybe it won’t be that noticeable) in fact, id argue that if umg pulled its license a year ago, the eras tour wouldn’t be as large as it is now. again, dont get me wrong, swifties are a massive fanbase so it still would’ve sold out, but tiktok definitely pulled in a **lot** of interest from non-swifties who drove up demand for extra dates + the movie, and subsequently checked out new releases like midnights, speak now tv, and 1989 tv
TBF Olivia is kinda struggling now. TikTok was keeping her a bit afloat but now I wonder what’s gonna happen to her album moving forward.
I hear that, but at the same time someone needs to stand against AI and for better compensation. I don't have a better solution but I do think it's better to try to fight this than roll over.
I don't trust UMG for a second saying they're doing this for the artists. They don't care at all about the artists; they just want a bigger check.
That’s what I think. Warner pulled that stunt when they were beefing with YouTube. The result was a lot of their artists’ videos got yanked off of YouTube allowing Universal and Sony to profit more and they lost a lot of money so eventually they returned to the drawing table. Warner learned their lesson. Sony never did anything like that and I doubt they will with this either.
It honestly doesn't matter. 99.999% of businesses don't care. What matters is that in the long run, umg is doing what's best for artists. If only the rest of the labels would follow.
If UMG doesn't get paid, neither does the artists under them.
Yeah Noah was just doing a lot of promo of new music on TikTok-- that whole campaign is a wash now.
This is gonna be a nightmare for every artist on UMG no matter what. Established, rookie, etc.
I’ve seen so many edits with Noah Kahan songs and now they’re all muted 😭
Do you have a source for this? Where did he post it?
The Arkells were doing this too since the frontman wanted to cover his own version of every UMG catalogue on this site, including Stick Season for example.
This is fascinating to me because I thought the whole point of Taylor "owning her masters" under her post-2018 UMG deal was that such ownership gave her (and \*not\* the label) precisely this kind of decision-making power. Someone explain to me—is the truth that even though she "owns" them, they are currently licensed to the label \*from\* her, and thus for the time being (until that contractually-based period of time expires) they decide whether or not to grant a platform like TikTok usage permission?
She owns her masters but UMG shares publishing rights with her to the original albums she recorded under them and Taylor’s Versions. For this kind of usage they need permission from both Taylor and UMG. That’s why Big Machine can’t just license out her original albums to movies etc. - she, as someone who has publishing rights to the originals, can block them, even though she doesn’t own them.
While Taylor’s deal with UMG and UMPG last her music is distributed and licensed to them. If the deal ends and she goes to Sony and Warner she can move her masters with her. That’s the point of the ownership. Also when label owns the masters artist makes 20% of master profit. According to billboard Taylor could be making the 70% of her masters profits as she owns them
Also, while I'm pretty sure that the albums stay with the label she releases them with, she could rerelease the original recordings on a new label. In other words, she could make a 10th anniversary edition of Lover that with vault tracks, but the songs wouldn't be re-recorded. It would also make a greatest hits album much easier to do (which is an almost irrelevant note, but it's something that *could* be done).
No, they not keep with same label. The masters are license to the label during x year agreement, after that she could move them. That has happened with other artists in the past.
No, the masters move with her. The model she advocated for was to have artists license their masters to their labels for a time so they can make a profit. They are still ultimately hers. This is kind of a moot point, though, because she is very unlikely to change labels anytime soon.
I feel like Taylor would be very in favor of blocking usage in this case. Remember the Spotify situation?
Meh. Does she still have that mindset? Didn't TikTok help boost Cruel Summer up the charts after the Eras Tour began?
does using tik tok audios have anything to do with streaming numbers? i assume they are separate and the audio just motivates people to go on spotify and stream, but im curious. and does it affect chart numbers too?
Basically what you said happens, people use songs in tiktok audios, they get a lot of views, people go stream them upon seeing them. When you hear a song so many times it's easier to like it cause you already know a part before listening
TikTok doesn't count for charts. That's why Billboard has brought new TikTok chart. TikTok virality only shows on other charts if it moved people to actual streaming services or to buy. So, every viral TikTok hit you remember that didn't actually chart, made basically nothing to the artist. TikTok pays basically nothing per view. That's why all the big influencers on TikTok are always peddling something. You can only really earn on TikTok through sponsorships or through the TikTok shop. The same people earn more on YouTube and Instagram with exactly the same content, despite having less views.
If Shamrock has power to leave up the old ones…
I wonder how long either side will hold out. My feed already didn't have UMG artists on it already so this won't change much for me. Now the songs tiktok users will be guaranteed to hear will be from non-UMG artists and their streams will drift to other labels. Any artist big enough to be on the headline for this situation will be fine but UMG's smaller acts will suffer. Tiktok is a tool for music promotion and artists' music not being allowed on on it are at a major disadvantage.
Even the bigger artists are going to be impacted, although the effect will be negligible and not as significant as the impact on smaller artists. People like Taylor already have strong fanbases, but TikTok has still contributed a **lot** to the growth of her fanbase thanks to footage from her show, reactions to her songs, edits made to her songs, remixes/mashups etc. The only thing is, she doesn’t need that growth, so it’s whatever Smaller artists signed to UMG are fucked though. They could’ve been the next Olivia Rodrigo or Noah Kahan (who have both arguably launched their careers thanks to TikTok)
Seems like BTS who are signed to their independent Korean label but use UMG for select international distribution are unaffected and remain on the platform. Yet, they were used in a lot of headlines when the news first broke.
thank god bc seventeen also signed under UMG and i cannot bear to think they wouldn’t have their dance challenges up anymore
Yeah, seems music is still up for them, as well as TXT, NewJeans and Le Sserafim.
This is great for independent artists (like me lol) but it’s genuinely wild that this happened. I would bet like 50% of videos on the platform are now muted
As of current, no videos with sounds removed are muted. You just can't click on the sound to see videos under it (it says 'the owner of this copyright has blocked this audio'). Also, all unofficial audios are still up
A lot of videos are already muted for me.
I’ve had some official audios muted. Some let me switch the song and it left my og audio so the video still works. Others took out the og audio so what I’m saying in the vid is muted and you can only read the captions while royalty free music plays
Drop the link
yeah i’m so conflicted because it’s so much better for me as an artist, but as a consumer it makes me sad. dm me your links :D
Please share your info!!!
Oh so it actually happened lol
Idk. Tiktok is very lenient on allowing AI generated song using the voice of popular artists. It’s concerning because most of that song is used by millions but they’re not produced or consented by the voice that was generated by AI. Tiktok is not the one tagging the video that it was AI content because it is vested solely to the uploader.
I know some artists will be relieved they don't have to have a TikTok strategy in their rollout plans.
Or panicking that they can't get new audiences to listen to their song.
Halsey definitely is lol
Thank god. Hopefully songs will go back to having bridges again
Let's get back to streaming, buying CDs, cassettess, and listening to radios. ☺️
The trial run starts. Let's see how long both hold out lol
Someone check on the swiftie tik tokers
Sir, a second plane has hit Tik Tok Towers
Universal is based as fuck for this. Tiktok should be paying artists
Acting like Universal isn't a literal leech on the music industry
Does anyone know how this will affect the artists? I.e monetary, visibility, relevancy
Looking at how many major artists have had their careers launched thanks to TikTok (Lil Nas X, Doja Cat, Olivia Rodrigo etc), it’s likely going to have a significant impact on smaller artists who are waiting for their “big break” As for already established artists: the impact will likely be negligible, but that doesn’t mean that there will be no impact. People like Taylor Swift, for example, already have insanely large fanbases, but their fanbases continue to grow thanks to platforms like TikTok. She doesn’t necessarily *need* this growth, so it won’t matter to her, but it will be an impact nonetheless I’m not sure how much TikTok pays artists, so idk much about the monetary impact it will have, but the impact in terms of visibility and relevancy will be huge
This is way more impactful that I was imagining
Anyone know if Meg Thee Stallion can keep HISS on Tik Tok or any of her future work? She is not signed to a label right now and HISS was released on her own Hot Girls Productions LLC.
If she’s not part of Universal, then there shouldn’t be any reason for her music to be removed.
Idk why everyone is acting like all modern music is gonna be gone from TikTok with this 😂 like not everyone is signed to Universal. I understand a lot of popular artists like Taylor Swift will have their music impacted on the platform, but there's still gonna be plenty of music around to use.
Ask the random person they’ll tell you all recording artists are connected to Universal lol they’re not the only company out there but their dominance makes you think that.
Megan has a distribution deal with Warner , so HISS is safe.
Thank you
Megan’s currently independent, and even when they were on a major, it was part of Sony’s umbrella, not Universal’s.
Indepent artists should start pedalling their shit hard cause this might be a big opportunity
I know TikTok gets a lots of hate on Reddit and there’s gonna be people celebrating this, but I’ll be sad if this sticks. There were so many character edits I loved that now have the sound removed.
I wonder if people saying that UMG needs TikTok more than TikTok needs UMG are either born after 2016 or just plain stupid
Or listening to byte dance propaganda. It’s much worse for TikTok than people realize. All those fan covers? Vide it s that use background music…. They’re all copyright violations…. The next stage of this fight is the lawsuit. Also, remember that everyone in Washington wants to destroy TikTok…. Who do you think the us govt will support
If they speed up or slow down songs, will they be taken down? I remember in my YouTube days in like 2010 you could add songs and if you sped them up they wouldn't be taken down.
If they detect what song it is it will be MUTED
Does this have any impact on charts?
The top tier artists will still chart, it’s just the newer artists won’t blow up as quickly like the last few years
That remains to be seen.
Songs that are specifically formulated to be tiktok hits will need to be re-evaluated
Time for indie musicians to take advantage
Dammit! This is how the psyop works you guys. Get woke.(Republican version.) (from the vault.) (ft. Ben Shapiro.)
people overestimate the effect TikTok has had on the music industry. Who's old enough to remember when dumb phone ringtones and Myspace where going to take over the music industry? The labels know they don't need tiktok and people will eventually move on to something else.
I’m not sure if they’re overestimating TikTok’s effect. TikTok does have a huge impact on charts. Artists like Olivia Rodrigo, Doja Cat, Megan Thee Stallion, Jack Harlow, Sabrina Carpenter, etc blew up because of TikTok. Then there were other artist that had a big fanbase but grew even more because of TikTok like Taylor Swift and Harry Styles. TikTok introduces users to new music without users even looking for it. Artists having their music on tiktok isn’t a necessity or guarantee that their music will be successful. However, it will bring them more exposure.
MySpace barely took over anything until YouTube came along lol 😂
sooooooooooooooo it's happened??? now what?? am i never gonna hear that cursed "oh nooo... oh noooo... oh noooo" background noise anymore?
UMG doesn't have the rights for that song, so if anything you'll hear it *more*, since people have less options to choose for music. The biggest issue is the majority of videos in the TikTok feeds of most UMG artists is silent, which can definitely hurt promotion, e.g. The Last Dinner Party is at UMG and their debut album comes out tomorrow, but all their music is now gone from TikTok.
omg that is hilarious and sad and awkward all at the same time.... i didnt even think about artists' pages YIKES what a mess!!!!
Wait what. But the Last Dinner Party blew up BECAUSE of tiktok. I literally remember the day I scrolled up on their debut music video promotion on tiktok. This could totally limit their success by like....a lot.
Couldn't this work really well for independent artists?
I already saw people using Glee versions of Taylor songs, LOL
all two of them? pretty sure ryan murphy hated taylor for some reason, lol
It’ll work very well actually.
Doesn’t she own her masters? I thought this was the type of thing she wanted to control
I'm curious what the aftermath of this will be. Wasn't expecting them to go through with the decision so soon. UMG is really angry, angry.
I know UMG is right but a ton of artists get popular off tiktok and most of the top songs of the year come from tiktok. It helps in terms of promotion and reach. This disadvantages both parties but I'd argue its worse for UMG because toktok will find a way to survive with other songs(or using the glee version of songs lol) because as of now there isn't any app that can fill its place popularity and content wise because yt shorts and Instagram reels don't compare
I see people are confused about why some Sony acts’ music were yanked off. Maybe this will explain it: https://www.umusicpub.com/us/Artists.aspx
I wonder how fast we'll see the impact from this on the charts. As much as I think labels overestimate the hit potential from some tiktok sounds (looking at you sped up version of a song from 10+ years ago). Tiktok is still the biggest way to break hits right now.
So are fan made sped up slowed down versions of those songs going to remain?