State Champ Radio tiktok
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Two days after Universal Music Group (UMG) announced it would likely pull its music catalog from TikTok over a licensing dispute, indie publishing giant Primary Wave Music has come out in support of the company’s decision.
In a statement released Thursday (Feb. 1), Primary Wave, led by founder/CEO Larry Mestel, said it applauds UMG “for standing up to TikTok and its blatant disregard for artists and songwriters” while blasting TikTok’s response to UMG’s decision, which UMG announced in an open letter addressed to its artists and songwriters on Tuesday (Jan. 30).
“The notion that TikTok would try to rationalize willfully underpaying artists because, the platform says, it offers artists ‘promotion’ is a decades-old canard that has no place in any modern music business,” the Primary Wave statement continues. “Artists and songwriters need to be compensated appropriately for their work and protected from unethical uses of AI. Period. We’re proud to stand alongside UMG and the artist advocates that have called upon TikTok to appropriately pay and protect the songwriters and artists who are critical to the growth and cultural relevance of the platform.”
Primary Wave represents multiple artists and estates with deals with UMG, including Olivia Newton John and Bob Marley.
In UMG’s open letter, the company — which boasts such superstars as Taylor Swift, BTS, Drake and The Weeknd on its roster — announced that all UMG music would be removed from TikTok after its current licensing deal expired Thursday (Jan. 31) while citing deep disagreements over artist compensation, artificial intelligence, TikTok’s alleged failure to combat infringing musical works and user safety. It also accused TikTok of attempting to “bully” UMG “into accepting a deal worth less than the previous deal, far less than fair market value and not reflective of their exponential growth” by threatening to selectively remove the music of some of UMG’s developing artists.
Just hours later, TikTok responded by accusing UMG of putting “greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters” while slamming what it called UMG’s “false narrative and rhetoric…the fact is they have chosen to walk away from the powerful support of a platform with well over a billion users that serves as a free promotional and discovery vehicle for their talent.”
On Thursday (Feb. 1), UMG responded to TikTok by saying the platform’s own statement “perfectly sums up its woefully outdated view: Even though TikTok (formerly Musical.ly) has built one of the world’s largest and most valuable social media platforms off the backs of artists and songwriters, TikTok still argues that artists should be grateful for the ‘free promotion’ and that music companies are ‘greedy’ for expecting them to simply compensate artists and songwriters appropriately, and on similar levels as other social media platforms currently do.”
UMG’s catalog began disappearing from TikTok on Thursday.
With Universal Music Group‘s catalog now being slowly removed from TikTok, the music company issued a new statement Thursday (Feb. 1) commenting on what it says are TikTok’s “woefully outdated” views on music licensing and compensation. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The stalemate between the world’s […]
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Source: VALERIE MACON / Getty / UMG / Universal Music Group / TikTok
Your music selection for your TikTok posts took a serious hit.
Spotted on The Verge, artists like Taylor Swift, Drake, JAY-Z, BTS, Olivia Rodrigo, and more all had their music pulled off TikTok after the platform and UMG (Universal Music Group) failed to extend the expired licensing agreement when negotiations between the two entities broke down.
Per The Verge:
On Tuesday, UMG accused the video platform of attempting to bully it into accepting a “bad deal” that didn’t soothe the record labels’ concerns regarding adequate compensation for artists and songwriters, protections against AI-generated music, and online safety on the platform to protect artists from “hate speech, bigotry, bullying and harassment.” TikTok responded saying that it was “disappointing” that UMG had “chosen to walk away from the powerful support of a platform with well over a billion users,” and accused the label of putting its “own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters.”
Rolling Stone reports takedowns on the platform began “gradually” on Wednesday night when “UMG-owned recordings such as Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer,” Olivia Rodrigo’s “Get Him Back,” and Lana Del Rey’s “Let the Light In” were no longer appearing in search results.”
Videos from popular TikTok accounts like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson featuring songs from UMG artists were also pulled off the platform.
In an open letter shared by Rolling Stone, UMG wrote:
TikTok proposed paying our artists and songwriters at a rate that is a fraction of the rate that similarly situated major social platforms pay. Today, as an indication of how little TikTok compensates artists and songwriters, despite its massive and growing user base, rapidly rising advertising revenue and increasing reliance on music-based content, TikTok accounts for only about 1% of our total revenue.
Ultimately TikTok is trying to build a music-based business, without paying fair value for the music,” UMG claimed. It accused TikTok of trying to “bully” it into accepting a “bad deal” by “selectively removing the music of certain of our developing artists, while keeping on the platform our audience-driving global stars.” Universal further alleged that TikTok was allowing its platform to be “flooded” with AI-generated recordings. The company described TikTok’s response to AI as “nothing short of sponsoring artist replacement by AI.
TikTok Responded
The popular Chinese-owned platform had something to say in response to UMG’s open letter in a statement shared online writing:
It is sad and disappointing that Universal Music Group has put their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters.
Despite Universal’s false narrative and rhetoric, the fact is they have chosen to walk away from the powerful support of a platform with well over a billion users that serves as a free promotional and discovery vehicle for their talent.
TikTok has been able to reach ‘artist-first’ agreements with every other label and publisher. Clearly, Universal’s self-serving actions are not in the best interests of artists, songwriters and fans.
It sounds like UMG and TikTok are far apart, but we believe cooler heads will prevail, and you will be adding Taylor Swift songs to your cooking videos in the future.
There is just too much money possibly being left on the table here.
In an open letter, TikTok states that they have been unable to reach an agreement with UMG. The music giant says it will pull its entire music catalog from the platform on Jan. 31. Ice Spice announced that her debut album, titled ‘Y2K,’ will be out later this year. SZA has confirmed that a collaboration […]
It’s too soon to say what impact Universal Music Group’s plan to pull all its music from TikTok will have. But if you’re looking for a clue, try asking an Australian.
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Last February, TikTok began running tests in the country in which it limited the amount of licensed music some users encountered on the platform. The intent was to measure and compare the different ways people interact with the app — and what impact music has on their experience.
Some users took to X (formerly Twitter) to decry the tests: “Tiktok really ruining its own app with all this ‘sound removed’ garbage,” one Australian user posted. Another added: “wtf is up with tiktok removing like half the sounds??? like i swear ive seen SO many tiktoks where the sound has been removed.”
Some guessed at the time that the results were possibly meant to inform TikTok’s licensing strategy, but now, the social platform is facing an even bigger test.
Starting today, music from the Universal Music Group (UMG) catalog will begin to disappear from TikTok in countries around the world after negotiations between the companies soured. According to an open letter penned by UMG, the two failed to agree on key points like compensation, artificial intelligence and infringing works on the social app.
The ramifications will reverberate across the entire music business. UMG’s TikTok license covered its recorded music and publishing holdings, meaning that it’s not just artists on UMG labels like Republic and Interscope whose music will soon disappear. Universal Music Publishing Group is the second largest publisher in the world, holding a 21.16% market share on the Pop Airplay chart in the third quarter of 2023, not to mention a formidable trove of evergreen catalogs. When the company pulls that catalog, it will pull any song any of the songwriters it represents contributed to as well, impacting many other labels and publishers in the coming weeks.
As one A&R from another publisher put it last night at Spotify’s Songwriter of the Year Grammy event, this move by the world’s largest music company feels akin to the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes that halted much of the film business last year. Though the pain will be felt in the short term, the hope is that UMG’s stand will lead to substantive change that benefits everyone in the music industry in the long term. There’s an opportunity for the “movement” to grow too, should the other major music companies, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group (WMG), as well as indies, decide to pull their catalogs as well when their licensing deals expire. (WMG, however, announced a multi-year licensing deal with TikTok last July, and it is unclear when other licenses will be up for renewal.)
Much like the Hollywood strikes, this battle will also come with casualties. UMG-affiliated artists and songwriters with releases already slated for the coming weeks, those who just released something new, and those who are currently trending on TikTok are all likely to feel the effects. Among them: Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s “Murder on the Dancefloor,” which has seen a remarkable resurgence more than 20 years after its release on UMG’s Polydor label thanks to Saltburn and, now, TikTok; and “Made For Me” by Muni Long, which was released in September via Supergiant/Def Jam and is currently No. 2 on the TikTok Top 50 chart. As Justin Lehmann, manager to Amine and Khai Dreams, previously said in an interview with Billboard, “without breaking [on TikTok], it’s difficult to say what else can cause a big moment to happen for anybody.”
It’s easy to imagine that some artists affiliated with UMG would consider pushing back their release dates given how important TikTok has become to label marketing efforts. If the holdout lasts months, it could lead to a bottleneck for major album releases awaiting a resolution. Meanwhile, UMG will be forced to protect its copyrights against unlicensed user uploads, issuing takedown notices to combat them.
In the interim, indie artists might see a bigger window to get their songs noticed on the short-form app. One major label employee joked that he could see some people trying to make soundalike recordings or covers of big songs by UMG recording artists in hopes of filling the void.
The risk with UMG’s gamble is that TikTok fares just fine without its giant catalog, eventually forcing UMG and other music companies into worse negotiating positions than ever. It’s hard to imagine a comparable user experience without the likes of Taylor Swift, Drake, BTS, The Weeknd, Olivia Rodrigo and so many other superstars, but this moment will serve as the ultimate test. It turns out Australia was just the warm up.
Universal Music Group (UMG) says it will pull its entire music catalog from TikTok when its contract with the service expires on Wednesday (Jan. 31), accusing the platform of “trying to build a music-based business, without paying fair value for the music,” according to an open letter released Tuesday (Jan. 30).
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In the letter, addressed to UMG artists and songwriters, the company states that it’s particularly concerned about the rates that TikTok is offering to pay for its catalog. Other points of contention include the amount of content on TikTok that infringes its artists’ and songwriters’ works without providing “meaningful solutions” to help them combat it, the level of hate and harassment on the platform and TikTok’s stances on artificial intelligence (AI).
According to UMG, during the negotiations, the ByteDance-owned social giant “demanded a contractual right which would allow [AI] content to massively dilute the royalty pool for human artists,” which UMG states is “nothing short of sponsoring artist replacement by AI.”
If UMG pulls its catalog, it would affect all music distributed and administered by its recorded-music division as well as Universal Music Publishing Group.
The last deal UMG struck with TikTok to license both its recorded music and publishing was announced on Feb. 8, 2021. In July, WMG inked a multi-year licensing deal with TikTok that allows the company to use WMG’s music on its app as well as CapCut and its new “social streaming platform” TikTok Music, which is currently available in Brazil, Indonesia, Australia, Singapore, and Mexico. At the time the deal was announced, WMG CEO/chairman Robert Kyncl and TikTok’s chief executive Shou Chew said the agreement would benefit artists.
This is not the first time the music business has had issues with TikTok. In 2019, when the platform was just getting started, the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) called on Congress to investigate TikTok for potential copyright theft. It was also reported around that time that TikTok was operating on expired deal extensions that were grandfathered in from when it acquired Musical.ly in late 2017. In March 2020, Billboard reported that all three majors had struck short-term licensing deals with TikTok.
Read the full open letter below.
Our core mission is simple: to help our artists and songwriters attain their greatest creative and commercial potential. To achieve these goals, our teams employ their expertise and passion to strike deals with partners all around the world, partners who take seriously their responsibilities to fairly compensate our artists and songwriters and treat the user experience with respect
One of those partners is TikTok, an increasingly influential platform with powerful technology and a massive worldwide user base. As with many other platforms with whom we partner, TikTok’s success as one of the world’s largest social platforms has been built in large part on the music created by our artists and songwriters. Its senior executives proudly state publicly that “music is at the heart of the TikTok experience” and our analysis confirms that the majority of content on TikTok contains music, more than any other major social platform.
The terms of our relationship with TikTok are set by contract, which expires January 31, 2024. In our contract renewal discussions, we have been pressing them on three critical issues—appropriate compensation for our artists and songwriters, protecting human artists from the harmful effects of AI, and online safety for TikTok’s users.
We have been working to address these and related issues with our other platform partners. For example, our Artist-Centric initiative is designed to update streaming’s remuneration model and better reward artists for the value they deliver to platforms. In the months since its inception, we’re proud that this initiative has been received so positively and taken up by a range of partners, including the largest music platform in the world. We’ve also moved aggressively to embrace the promise of AI while fighting to ensure artists’ rights and interests are protected now and far into the future. In addition, we’ve engaged a number of our platform partners to try to drive positive change for their users and by extension, our artists, by addressing online safety issues, and we are recognized as the industry leader in focusing on music’s broader impact on health and wellness.
With respect to the issue of artist and songwriter compensation, TikTok proposed paying our artists and songwriters at a rate that is a fraction of the rate that similarly situated major social platforms pay. Today, as an indication of how little TikTok compensates artists and songwriters, despite its massive and growing user base, rapidly rising advertising revenue and increasing reliance on music-based content, TikTok accounts for only about 1% of our total revenue.
Ultimately TikTok is trying to build a music-based business, without paying fair value for the music.
On AI, TikTok is allowing the platform to be flooded with AI-generated recordings—as well as developing tools to enable, promote and encourage AI music creation on the platform itself – and then demanding a contractual right which would allow this content to massively dilute the royalty pool for human artists, in a move that is nothing short of sponsoring artist replacement by AI.
Further, TikTok makes little effort to deal with the vast amounts of content on its platform that infringe our artists’ music and it has offered no meaningful solutions to the rising tide of content adjacency issues, let alone the tidal wave of hate speech, bigotry, bullying and harassment on the platform. The only means available to seek the removal of infringing or problematic content (such as pornographic deepfakes of artists) is through the monumentally cumbersome and inefficient process which equates to the digital equivalent of “Whack-a-Mole.”
But when we proposed that TikTok takes similar steps as our other platform partners to try to address these issues, it responded first with indifference, and then with intimidation.
As our negotiations continued, TikTok attempted to bully us into accepting a deal worth less than the previous deal, far less than fair market value and not reflective of their exponential growth. How did it try to intimidate us? By selectively removing the music of certain of our developing artists, while keeping on the platform our audience-driving global stars.
TikTok’s tactics are obvious: use its platform power to hurt vulnerable artists and try to intimidate us into conceding to a bad deal that undervalues music and shortchanges artists and songwriters as well as their fans.
We will never do that.
We will always fight for our artists and songwriters and stand up for the creative and commercial value of music.
We recognize the challenges that TikTok’s actions will cause, and do not underestimate what this will mean to our artists and their fans who, unfortunately, will be among those subjected to the near-term consequences of TikTok’s unwillingness to strike anything close to a market-rate deal and meaningfully address its obligations as a social platform. But we have an overriding responsibility to our artists to fight for a new agreement under which they are appropriately compensated for their work, on a platform that respects human creativity, in an environment that is safe for all, and effectively moderated.
We honor our responsibilities with the utmost seriousness. Intimidation and threats will never cause us to shirk those responsibilities.
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Source: NurPhoto / Getty / TikTok
TikTok made vertical videos all the rave. Now, the social media platform wants its users to start recording longer horizontal videos.
Spotted on The Verge, TikTok is now incentivizing its users to record horizontal videos that are also longer than the standard minute video.
Per The Verge:
TikTok appears to be incentivizing creators to start posting horizontal videos that are more than a minute long, according to a prompt seen by creators @candicedchap and @kenlyealtumbiz. The platform says it will “boost” these videos within 72 hours of posting. Creators who’ve been on TikTok for more than three months will be eligible for the viewership boost as long as the videos are not ads or from political parties.
According to the website, the “YouTube-ization” of the platform has been well underway for quite some time, with the US Government’s not-so-favorite platform pushing 30-minute videos.
TikTok already allows users to upload 15-minute-long videos.
The platform has already pushed users to flood timelines with more YouTube-esque content. The Chinese-owned platform introduced a new paywall program that allows content creators to upload a series of 20-minute-long videos into collections for paying subscribers.
Creators can set their prices to $1 to $190 subscribers. We have no idea who would pay the latter for a subscription.
It’s funny to see TikTok going towards horizontal videos, as other platforms like Instagram and YouTube have been moving towards vertical videos.
We are interested in seeing if TikTok users will use the latest feature.
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A TikTok user defending Megan The Stallion in her rap feud with Nicki Minaj claims that Minaj’s fans doxxed him, threatening his life.
Over the weekend, social media was ablaze as Nicki Minaj publicly vented at length over a line in Megan Thee Stallion’s latest single “Hiss”. “These hoes don’t be mad at Megan, these hoes mad at Megan’s Law,” the three-time Grammy Award winner said, apparently referencing Kenneth Petty, Minaj’s husband since 2019 (Petty is a convicted sex offender).
Minaj took offense, making fun of the Houston native being shot in the foot by Tory Lanez in 2020 as well as insulting the rapper’s late mother in an Instagram live video on Friday (January 25). That didn’t sit well with Bela Delgado, a TikTok user who blasted the Pink Friday artist in a video.
The video caught the attention of Miraj’s fans known as the “Barbz” whom Delgado said have been harassing and threatening him. “Nicki Minaj fans are attempting to dox me, messaging family members as well as people who aren’t members of my family, sending them s–t — apparently they got somebody’s address,” he said in a video posted on Saturday (January 26). “I am sorry. I’m so sorry that I disrespected Nicki Minaj. I saw a lot of other people doing it; I thought I’d add my two cents.” He cited his autism in the apology, saying to his 1.4 million followers that “sometimes things come out a lot harsher” because he’s on the spectrum.
Delgado said in the now-deleted video that he felt Minaj was a “disgusting and reprehensible person by pretty much all metrics of basic humanity and common decency,” referencing that he was once a former supporter of hers. It changed “when she started intentionally surrounding herself with sex offenders,” referencing Petty & Jelani Miraj, Nicki’s brother who was convicted of raping his 11-year-old stepdaughter in 2015.
The back-and-forth between Nicki Minaj and the “Savage” rapper has gotten exceedingly ugly, as Minaj released a new song entitled “Bigfoot” which included lyrics previewed in her Instagram live video: “She like 6 foot, I call her big foot,” Minaj raps, before saying someone “fell off, I said get up on your good foot.” Minaj has also been spotted amplifying her fans’ posts on X, formerly Twitter. For her part, Megan Thee Stallion replied on her Instagram showing her doubled over in laughter covering her mouth as she previewed Minaj’s response to “Hiss”.
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Photo: Getty
Flo Milli’s “Never Lose Me” ranks at No. 1 on the TikTok Billboard Top 50 chart for a second week, while He Is We’s “I Wouldn’t Mind” vaults to No. 2 on the ranking dated Jan. 27.
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The TikTok Billboard Top 50 is a weekly ranking of the most popular songs on TikTok in the United States based on creations, video views and user engagement. The latest chart reflects activity Jan 15-21. Activity on TikTok is not included in Billboard charts except for the TikTok Billboard Top 50.
“Never Lose Me” attains a second week at No. 1 concurrent with continued gains on streaming services that report to the Billboard Hot 100 and its genre-based charts. The song, released in November 2023, tops 10 million official U.S. streams for the first time, jumping 24% from 9.9 million to 12.1 million streams Jan. 12-18, according to Luminate. As such, the song leaps 42-37 on the Hot 100 as the tally’s greatest gainer in streaming.
As previously reported, “Never Lose Me” is largely driven by a variety of trends, with a more recent theme being uploads highlighting the “never had a bitch like me” lyric.
He Is We’s “I Wouldn’t Mind” has also been previously highlighted, following its debut on the Jan. 20 survey at No. 8. A sped-up edition of the 2010 track continues to drive the most attention, with the song’s TikTok uploads spanning a viral dance trend, POV videos and more. The song concurrently sports a 16% gain in official U.S. streams to 2.5 million.
A few more previously covered songs – Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s “Murder on the Dancefloor,” Cordelia’s “Little Life” and Project Pat’s “Choose U” – round out the top five, with the latter two reaching the top five for the first time.
“Choose U” isn’t the only place where you’ll find Project Pat in the top 10. “Good Googly Moogly,” featuring DJ Paul and Juicy J, joins the track in the top 10 by vaulting 18-7.
The main trend for “Good Googly Moogly” on TikTok features creators ogling someone, showing surprise at a passerby or other eyebrow-raising reactions, set to the “good googly moogly” line in the 2006 track’s chorus. Some more recent uploads with higher volume of interactions on the platform include photos and videos of users’ newborn babies, showing how people announced the birth of their children vs. how the child actually looked like when they were born.
Project Pat becomes the fifth different act to land more than one song in the TikTok Billboard Top 50’s top 10 in a single week since the ranking’s September 2023 inception. Nicki Minaj has done so three times, while Lana Del Rey, Kanye West and Drake have accomplished the feat once apiece.
One final song appears in the chart’s top 10 for the first time: MGMT’s “Time to Pretend,” which debuts at No. 9. The lead track from the duo’s 2007 breakout Oracular Spectacular, “Time to Pretend’s” overarching trend involves creators using the same or similar photos, both with the same caption – but using different emojis to represent that the same phrase can mean different things for one’s life.
“Time to Pretend” was MGMT’s first Billboard-charting song when it peaked at No. 23 on the Alternative Airplay survey in May 2008. The song snagged 1.8 million official U.S. streams in the latest tracking week, a 28% gain.
Just outside the TikTok Billboard Top 50’s top 10, Muni Long’s “Made for Me” debuts at No. 12. Its trend highlights the song’s “Twin/ where have you been? / nobody knows me like you do” lyric, with users making videos with friends, family or significant others. Long herself has also posted TikToks lip-synching to the song, as have Chloe, That Girl Lay Lay and more.
“Made for Me” debuts on the Hot 100 dated Jan. 27 at No. 93, Long’s third appearance on the ranking and first solo since breakthrough “Hrs and Hrs” peaked at No. 16 in February 2022.
Ariana Grande’s “Yes, And?,” which debuts at No. 1 on the Hot 100, makes an appearance on the TikTok Billboard Top 50, bowing at No. 23. It’s Grande’s third song on the tally since it began and first non-holiday entry, as “Santa Tell Me” and “Last Christmas” comprised her previous appearances.
See the full TikTok Billboard Top 50 here and on the TikTok app. You can also tune in each Friday to SiriusXM’s TikTok Radio (channel 4) to hear the premiere of the chart’s top 10 countdown at 3 p.m. ET, with reruns heard throughout the week.
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Source: South_agency / Getty / Black TikToker
Plenty of grown men have quit their jobs to pursue a career in gaming, but that wasn’t the case with this joker.
A Black TikToker who goes by the handle @tianaredd_ was officially fed up with her bum a** boyfriend after he quit his job to play the PS5 she bought him.
Like many people lately, she ran to the popular social media platform on Dec.28 to ask her followers for advice because she believed the man quit his job to pick up the sticks, saying in the video she felt like she was on an episode of Pranked.
In a follow-up post, Redd finally took action, making her apartment as uncomfortable as possible for “Nard,” her now ex-boyfriend.
In the video with color commentary, she can be seen throwing out food, packing up meat to give to her friend, and even trying to get the electricity turned off, but the landlord said if she did that, she would breach her contract.
The last step was her going to the local Walmart to pick up tools to change the locks on the door but come to find out, she didn’t even need to go that far because all it took was a confrontation with “Nard” that led to him packing up his belongings and leaving the apartment.
Some People Asked Why She Went Through All That
Some people commented on the post wondering why she went to such great lengths to get “Nard” out of the apartment and just kicked him out in the first place.
Redd revealed their relationship was an abusive one, replying, “We got over 10 domestic violence cases. Burglarizing, kidnapping, all of that. So, why, in my good mind, would I just throw his shit out. Do you think I wanna get [punched]?”
We are glad she could get that bum out of her life without things getting physical.
