Universal Music Group (UMG), which represents big music stars like Taylor Swift, has made a new deal with TikTok, ending their disagreement.
On Thursday, UMG announced that they reached a licensing agreement with TikTok, which means UMG artists’ music will be back on the platform.
By Thursday morning, songs from Taylor Swift, including ones from her latest album The Tortured Poets Department, were back on TikTok.
Earlier this year, TikTok took down songs from UMG artists because the two companies couldn’t agree on a deal about music rights. This caused a public argument. Music by artists like Swift and Drake disappeared from TikTok, which is owned by a Chinese company called ByteDance.
UMG accused TikTok of being unfair in negotiations and said TikTok wanted to pay artists and songwriters way less than other social platforms do.
The main issue was that TikTok allowed users to make and share songs without permission, using AI. UMG said TikTok was full of these AI-made songs.
The new deal between UMG and TikTok aims to pay songwriters and artists better, give them more chances to promote their music, and make sure AI isn’t misusing their work.
Lucian Grainge, UMG’s chairman and CEO, said the new deal is about valuing music, supporting artists, and protecting creativity.
Shou Zi Chew, TikTok’s CEO, said they want to work with UMG to help artists and songwriters get recognized and fairly paid.
Both TikTok and UMG promised to work together to stop unauthorized AI-made music on TikTok and to make sure artists are properly credited for their work.
