alternative title：Trill users can’t be used when creating video music Taylor swift and others

  • TikTok users have lost their access to songs by Universal Music’s artists, including Taylor Swift, Jon Baptiste, Boy Genius and more.
  • The termination of the partnership and the silencing of artists’ short videos may have an impact on the user experience and music content on the platform.
  • Universal Music says TikTok is unwilling to compensate artists and songwriters; TikTok, in turn, accused Universal Music of putting “greed ahead of the interests of its artists and songwriters”. The controversy has also drawn attention from users on social media and some have turned to rival Meta’s short video platform.

Cooperation suspended

After contract negotiations between the two companies broke down, TikTok users will no longer be able to use songs by Taylor Swift, Jon Baptiste, Boy Genius and other Universal Music Group artists in their soundtracks. TikTok’s partnership with many of Universal Music’s artists ended on Wednesday after months of negotiations failed to reach a “New Deal” with the world’s largest music company. TikTok has begun blocking short videos by its artists.The high-profile dispute raged, when the music industry executives and artists gathered in Los Angeles for the grammy awards on Sunday. “Our agreement with TikTok has expired because of TikTok’s unwillingness to properly compensate artists and songwriters, protect human artists from the harmful effects of artificial intelligence, or address the online safety concerns of TikTok users,” a Universal Music spokesperson said in a statement on Thursday. The company is asking TikTok to pay artists what other social media platforms pay. Universal Music pointed out in an open letter on Tuesday that while music is a core part of the app experience, it currently represents only 1% of total revenue.

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Who is right about their concerns

Universal Music also said TikTok flooded its platform with AI-generated recordings, which diluted the royalty pool for artists. In addition, it has raised concerns about “problematic content,” such as the reported viral images of Billie Eilish that were viewed by millions and then removed for violating community guidelines. TikTok declined to comment on Thursday.

TikTok said in an earlier statement that Universal Music put “greed ahead of the interests of its artists and songwriters.” The social video platform said the music company was abandoning a powerful promotional platform with more than 1 billion users. “TikTok has been able to reach ‘artist-first’ agreements with all other brands and publishers,” TikTok said in a statement. “Clearly, Universal’s selfish actions are not in the best interests of artists, songwriters and fans.” “While TikTok (originally Musical.ly) has built one of the world’s largest and most valuable social media platforms on the back of artists and songwriters, it still believes that artists should be grateful for ‘free promotion,'” Universal said.Wall Street analysts welcomed Universal’s move.

Daniel Kerven, an analyst at J.P. Morgan, said in a research note that the company had “little to lose and a lot to gain,” estimating that it would lose less than $109 million by pulling TikTok. Some of the losses will be offset by users who listen to music using competing apps. Countless chart-topping songs were blocked, causing consternation among some young users as the songs were seen as background audio for the TikTok trend. A user named Alexa posted a slow-motion video of her shaking her head and looking incredulous, adding: “What do you mean they’re taking Taylor Swift’s music off TikTok?”

That prompted some jokes that fans might turn to Meta’s short-video rival, which some see as a less cool version of TikTok.”I’m afraid we’ll have to turn to [Instagram] Reels,” one commenter wrote.