UMG music to return to TikTok after companies reach licensing agreement

We’re so back. TikTok and Universal Music Group struck a new deal that will bring music from UMG artists back onto the platform, the companies announced Wednesday.

The new agreement was announced the day before TikTok’s NewFronts presentation and ends a three-month-long dispute between the two companies that left the social media platform devoid of music from UMG.

While a return date for UMG content on TikTok wasn’t announced, the companies said they are “working expeditiously” to bring it back, according to a joint press release issued this week.

“This new chapter in our relationship with TikTok focuses on the value of music, the primacy of human artistry and the welfare of the creative community,” Sir Lucian Grainge, UMG’s chairman and CEO, said in a statement.

Record skip: Music from major UMG artists like Drake and Ariana Grande originally began disappearing from TikTok in February after TikTok’s licensing agreement with UMG expired. At the time, UMG accused TikTok of failing to pay artists fairly and cited the rise of AI-generated music on the platform, among other concerns. TikTok, meanwhile, accused UMG of putting “their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters.”

The new agreement between the two companies addresses some of the aforementioned concerns through measures including:

• Generative AI protections: TikTok and UMG will “work together to ensure AI development across the music industry will protect human artistry,” according to the press release. As part of those efforts, TikTok has pledged to work with UMG to remove unauthorized AI-generated content from the platform and “improve artist and songwriter attribution.”
• New avenues of monetization for artists? UMG will leverage TikTok’s e-commerce infrastructure, and the two companies will work together on campaigns for UMG artists, the press release said. (Neither TikTok nor UMG immediately responded to requests for comment on what the e-commerce initiatives will look like.)
• More tools for artists: TikTok will “continue to invest significant resources into building artist-centric tools,” and it will introduce stronger data and analytics capabilities and stronger online safety protections “for artists and their fans,” the press release said.