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Barring a last-minute deal, the music of Taylor Swift and other artists from Universal Music Group may disappear from TikTok. UMG said in an open letter that its negotiations on renewing the licensing agreement with the popular short video platform have not yielded any results and that the license will expire tonight.
UMG said three “critical issues” led to the impasse, including “adequate compensation for our artists and songwriters, protecting human artists from the harmful effects of artificial intelligence, and online safety for TikTok users.”
“TikTok has proposed paying our artists and songwriters at a rate that is a fraction of the rate paid by major social media platforms with similar positions,” the letter explained.
“Ultimately, TikTok is trying to build a business based on music, without paying fair value for the music,” she concluded.
An interesting development is that TikTok allows AI recordings to spread among its content, and also enables users to create AI music on the platform itself.
UMG claims that this allowance “significantly dilutes the total royalties of human artists, in a move nothing short of sponsoring the replacement of the artist by artificial intelligence.”
TikTok released a Statement of response to complaints Tuesday, accusing UMG of being “greedy” and prioritizing money over the best interest of its artists.
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