Explain this UMG-TikTok feud to me like I know nothing
Universal Music Group just pulled its catalogue from TikTok, and with my minimal knowledge of the music industry, I'm going to talk about it
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Universal Music Group announced it would pull all its music from TikTok in a scathing letter. And they did—all UMG-owned sounds have been removed from TikTok now that the licensing contract expired. This includes songs by Taylor Swift, Noah Kahan, Lorde, Bleachers—to name some of my favorites—but also apparently this viral track “Home” by small rock back Good Neighbours?
Now, I’m no music industry expert, nor have I ever pretended to be. I’m not an artist or Bandier kid (Shoutout Syracuse) or an aspiring agent or manager. I’m just a girl sharing her favorite music on TikTok, aka a music curator, which I’ve come to learn play a significant role in helping artists reach new fans.
Or maybe, not significant enough.
When I first heard of UMG pulling its catalog, it didn’t seem right to me that artists wouldn’t be allowed to promote their music as they please. TikTok has always been a music discovery platform for me, which is why I hopped on the train of creators posting playlists and song recommendations.
But I figured I had to be missing something. After all, I really don’t know much about this very complicated industry. To educate myself, I started reading. I particularly enjoyed this post from Music X by Maarten Walraven explaining the situation better:
To reiterate, I don’t know much about the business side of music whatsoever, but after some humble research, here is what I have gathered about the UMG-TikTok feud, in laymen’s terms:
This is about money
No one pays artists
TikTok will probably be fine
Read More
So although we have to cope with the loss of our favorite Pedro Pascal edit, we have to recognize that, for the most part, our FYP really hasn’t changed all the much. And while the boys hash it out, let’s support our favorite indie artists who never wanted to rely on social media to promote their music anyway. And as for our favorite UMG-owned songs, we can settle for the Glee covers.
Hi Sarah, yes that was a helpful and pretty accurate article. I didn't know about Music X. Paradigm shifts are happening in the music industry. Record companies cannot break artists and no longer control the narrative. They are trying to dump independents who are flooding the market with music releases and taking up too much air or should I say market share. TikTok is the new source of power. It is like an artisan well of creativity for all, independent of the music industry giants (who own stock in Spotify) and powered by the people. The people appears to include Indie Artists (now 43% of the music industry). You see TikTok is bypassing the old corporate giants who created stars. Meanwhile, we get paid almost nothing for our music being used and UMG has called our music 'trash'. It is hard to know where it is all going. Streaming giants are being audited in Europe. It's a mess. Hypebot is a good source: https://www.hypebot.com/ ---- bob@lefsetz.com is a music insider for life, but friends of the musician/artist side of things... maybe worthwhile but talks about lot's of stuff probably taking up too much of your time. My album is moving along in the two weeks it has been out. But I am happy with the progress. Cheers, Fred