Common Music Group‘s dispute with TikTok – primarily over the amount of cash the video service pays for music licensing – continues to be the discuss of Grammy Week. Now a number of different vital music firms are throwing their weight behind UMG’s mission.
Yesterday (February 1), Major Wave publicly backed Common’s place, which has seen UMG decline to agree phrases with TikTok over a brand new licensing settlement. Consequently, recordings represented by UMG have already began to change into unavailable in TikTok’s pre-cleared music library.
(Common’s music publishing library – which spans to roughly 4 million songs – is predicted to change into totally unlicensed on TikTok on the finish of February, because of a 30-day grace interval in UMPG’s settlement with the platform.)
Major Wave represents music written by icons together with Bob Marley, Stevie Nicks, Smokey Robinson, Whitney Houston, Burt Bacharach, and Prince. It mentioned in a press release: “Because the world’s main impartial writer of iconic and legendary music, we applaud Common Music Group for standing as much as TikTok and its blatant disregard for artists and songwriters. The notion that TikTok would attempt to rationalize willfully underpaying artists as a result of, the platform says, it presents artists ‘promotion’ is a decades-old canard that has no place in any fashionable music enterprise.
“Artists and songwriters should be compensated appropriately for his or her work and protected against unethical makes use of of AI. Interval. We’re proud to face alongside UMG and the artist advocates which have referred to as upon TikTok to appropriately pay and defend the songwriters and artists who’re essential to the expansion and cultural relevance of the platform.”
Right this moment (February 2), extra vital music companies have publicly backed UMG’s place.
Andrew Bergman is CEO of Downtown Music Holdings, which – throughout publishing administration, recorded music distribution, neighboring rights, and different providers – represents greater than 5,000 enterprise shoppers and over 4 million particular person creators. Consequently, Downtown claims to be “the most important pure-play service supplier within the world music business”. (One key instance: Downtown now administers the publishing catalog of Spirit Music Group, which owns over 100,000 songs.)
“It’s time to recalibrate the partnership between the music business and TikTok to re-balance the ledger.”
Andrew Bergman, Downtown Music Holdings
In a press release issued to MBW in response to the Common/TikTok information, Bergman mentioned: “We try at Downtown to make sure that artists, songwriters and rights holders are equitably compensated for his or her inventive endeavors.
“Over the past a number of years, regardless of the meteoric success of the platform, this has not been the case with TikTok. It’s time to recalibrate the partnership between the music business and TikTok to re-balance the ledger.”
Elsewhere, the Nationwide Music Publishers Affiliation (NMPA) has additionally reacted to UMG’s dispute with TikTok – particularly the ByteDance platform’s declare that it presents “highly effective help” to artists by serving “as a free promotional and discovery car for his or her expertise”.
NMPA President/CEO David Israelite mentioned at present: “Music is a driving power behind TikTok’s success and this can be very unlucky that TikTok doesn’t appear to worth the music creators that gas its enterprise. We imagine songwriters must be valued and compensated pretty, and we imagine synthetic intelligence ought to by no means be used to dilute the worth of human creativity.
“Music is a driving power behind TikTok’s success and this can be very unlucky that TikTok doesn’t appear to worth the music creators that gas its enterprise.”
David Israelite, NMPA
“Now we have seen different social-media platforms make the error of claiming promotion ought to substitute for truthful compensation. It’s a shedding argument and it’s improper.”
(The NMPA has its personal attention-grabbing historical past with TikTok, after all. The org signed a multi-year licensing settlement, on behalf of its members, with TikTok/ByteDance in 2020, after publicly threatening to sue the platform for copyright infringement.)
The music biz’s massive information from earlier at present? Merck Mercuriadis is transferring as much as Chairman at Hipgnosis Track Administration, and is being succeeded as CEO on the firm by Ben Katovsky.
Following that announcement, MBW spoke to Mercuriadis, who made clear in an interview – which will likely be printed on MBW within the coming days – that his “dedication to Hipgnosis Track Administration has by no means been stronger”.
However we additionally clearly needed to ask him for his tackle the story of the week: UMG vs. TikTok.
“Each digital music and social media service has to acknowledge the worth of music. Common has carried out the correct factor right here.”
Merck Mercuriadis, Hipgnosis
Mercuriadis mentioned: “TikTok has confirmed itself to be an ideal catalyst for the consumption of music. Take a look at Fleetwood Mac’sRumours, on which Hipgnosis is delighted and privileged to symbolize the Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie [songwriting cuts]. Rumours has been a top-selling album in recent times, and TikTok has had an enormous position to play in that story.
“However Hipgnosis has, for the reason that starting, been a large advocate for the truth that we have to change the place the songwriter sits within the financial equation. Ought to TikTok be paying larger charges? Completely. Each digital music and social media service has to acknowledge the worth of music.
“TikTok has the flexibility to be a power for good within the consumption of music. Common has carried out the correct factor right here, from the angle of creating positive that the ‘900 pound gorilla’ of our enterprise is setting a tone that’s not solely in one of the best curiosity of music rights-owners, however songwriters particularly.”Music Enterprise Worldwide