Over the past 24 hours, the tide has turned in the Universal Music Group/ TikTok lockout. Both parties reached a deal on Wednesday for UMG artists to return their music to TikTok with respect to artist/ songwriter authentication. The new deal includes industry-leading protections with respect to A.I., and improved remuneration for UMG’s songwriters and artists. There’s also new promotional and engagement opportunities with strengthened online safety protections, and tools to improve attribution.
UMG followed up on their promise to pull all their artists and songwriters from TikTok on February 1. Any artist from UMG were immediately unavailable for your account to use, and any UMG material you used already on your posts were now muted. Any artists that were Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Olivia Rodrigo, and non-owned Taylor Swift songs were not available for 3 months. However, Taylor Swift 3 weeks ago made her own deal with TikTok to return her wholly-owned music to TikTok just 8 days before “The Tortured Poets Department” dropped on April 19.
Just 12 days before UMG made their unprecedented deal with TikTok.
Daniel Quintanilla
