A New Agreement Between Universal Music Group And TikTok Will Return Music Catalog To The Social Media Platform

TikTok and Universal Music Group (UMG) have agreed on new licensing conditions to bring the group’s tunes back to the social media platform.

According to the TikTok newsroom, the joint agreement between the two entities “marks a new era of strategic collaboration.” 

“By harnessing TikTok’s best-in-class technology, marketing, and promotional capabilities, UMG and TikTok will deliver improved remuneration for UMG’s songwriters and artists, new promotional and engagement opportunities for their recordings and songs, and industry-leading protections with respect to generative AI,” read the report.

What’s more, fans will see a return of UMG’s recorded music and publishing catalogs on TikTok, thus allowing users to go back to creating content with sounds from some of the culture’s biggest musicians.

“Music is an integral part of the TikTok ecosystem and we are pleased to have found a path forward with Universal Music Group,” TikTok CEO Shou Chew said. “We are committed to working together to drive value, discovery, and promotion for all of UMG’s amazing artists and songwriters, and deepen their ability to grow, connect and engage with the TikTok community.”

UMG CEO and Chairman Sir Lucian Grainge added, “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. We look forward to collaborating with the team at TikTok to further the interests of our artists and songwriters and drive innovation in fan engagement while advancing social music monetization.”

As previously reported by AFROTECH™, UMG felt the severing of its partnership with TikTok was imminent due to concerns about “critical issues” during contract renegotiations in January 2024. The group anticipated pulling its catalog from the social media platform citing several grievances for the decision, with one being that despite TikTok’s success and global reach greatly benefiting from the music created by UMG artists and songwriters, the compensation was not up to the company’s standards.

Another problem that was raised was the increased use of AI-generated content on TikTok.

Now, not only will TikTok and UMG work together “to ensure AI development across the music industry will protect human artistry and the economics that flow to those artists and songwriters,” but they are working quickly to return to the platform music by artists under UMG as well as those sounds created by songwriters represented by Universal Music Publishing Group.