In just the past three months of 2024, TikTok truly seems to be falling apart. --Mackenzie Luna, 8th grade
Universal Music Group, also known as UMG, was once in an association with the 4th globally popular social media app known as TikTok. An app with over 1 billion users, with videos ranging from 3 seconds to 10 minutes, TikTok began to get popular in 2018. During the pandemic however, the shelter-in-place restrictions forced the world behind screens for school, work, and entertainment, and most people found themselves on TikTok.
Considered a music app, TikTok hosted collections of music from almost every artist. That was, until Universal Music Group pulled every song that they had the rights to on the app. Now, when a person goes to look for certain artists' music on the app, the screen reads, “This music is currently unavailable.” Artists who have had their music pulled include Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, SZA, ABBA, Bad Bunny, Drake, Steve Lacy, Lana Del Rey and many others. When one watches a video that had used a UMG sound, the video is now silent, and “sound removed due to copyright restrictions” appears at the bottom of the screen.
Universal Music Group published a very fiery letter, titled “An Open Letter to the Artist and Songwriter Community, Why We Must Call Time Out on TikTok.”
UMG began by describing how important artists are to UMG, and how they only want what is best for their artists.
“The terms of our relationship with TikTok are set by contract,” which expired January 31st. “In our contract renewal discussions, we have been pressing them [TikTok] 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.”
TikTok users have speed-up songs, created and posted audios, and used AI for voice-overs. AI has also been used to sound like a certain artist, who then sing a song that is not their own. For example, Olivia Rodrigo’s voice can be used by AI, to make it sound like she is singing a Lana Del Ray song.
UMG claimed that “TikTok is trying to build a music-based business, without paying fair value for the music.”
“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,” UMG continued. How did TikTok try to intimidate them? “By selectively removing the music of certain of our developing artists, while keeping on the platform our audience-driving global stars.”
UMG ended their letter with, “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.”
(Read the full letter here.)
Abi Ambrose, an 8th grade OSA Vocal student explained that she is annoyed by the removal. “Half of my videos were muted, which was really annoying,” she said.
“Some of Megan Moroney’s music got pulled which made me a little sad, but it’s okay, I’ll live,” added Ambrose about her favorite artist who were pulled. “A lot of Taylor Swift music got pulled, Olivia Rodrigo, Renee Rapp, Lana Del Ray… all these people. But no, I don’t really care,” she finished.
So what does this all mean for TikTok users? Well, one would think that you can bypass the removed music by uploading your own recorded audio, but this theory is wrong. According to Forbes, “TikTok scans uploads and uses automated content recognition technology to check for matches against a database of copyrighted material.”
Automated Content Recognition is also called ACR. This technology, however, does not always catch copyrighted material. Record labels and other copyright owners can also run ACR on TikTok videos. If they find their content in a video, then they can issue a request to TikTok, known as a takedown notice; and TikTok will remove the music from the video, or take down the entire video.
The app offers a “video sound copyright check” setting in the app. This feature helps users avoid copyright strikes that could result in TikTok terminating their accounts.
ACR technology may get confused when identifying songs as well, for example, if a song is uploaded with a different instrument, or the pitch is severely changed. Another issue is that most of TikTok’s uploaded music are very short snippets of songs, making it harder for ACR tech to identify a copyrighted song.
As of now, TikTok doesn’t appear to be in talks with UMG to recover their artists.
All of this comes as The House of Representatives passed a bill to move towards banning TikTok if ByteDance, the owners of TikTok, refuse to sell the app. The bill has passed the house, and is now moving to the Senate. This isn’t the first time TikTok has been threatened to be banned in the US. However, this time, the possibility seems a little more serious, as the concern is that the Chinese-owned app is collecting massive data on US citizens.
"Communist China is America's largest geopolitical foe and is using technology to actively undermine America's economy and security," Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said in a statement after the vote, warning that TikTok could be used to access American data and spread "harmful" information, explained NBC.
On Wednesday March 13th, TikTok sent a notification to most users about calling their cities local representative, to describe how much TikTok means to them. “We are hopeful that the Senate will consider the facts, listen to their constituents, and realize the impact on the economy, 7 million small businesses, and the 170 million Americans who use our service," described a TikTok spokesperson to CNN.
Ambrose also commented about the possible ban, exclaiming “I am outraged! My source of info, gossip, entertainment, is just gonna be gone, and I think that’s unacceptable.”
When asked what she would do if TikTok becomes banned, however, she went on to say “I’d move to Instagram reels, they’re meaner but it’d be okay.”
Considered a music app, TikTok hosted collections of music from almost every artist. That was, until Universal Music Group pulled every song that they had the rights to on the app. Now, when a person goes to look for certain artists' music on the app, the screen reads, “This music is currently unavailable.” Artists who have had their music pulled include Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, SZA, ABBA, Bad Bunny, Drake, Steve Lacy, Lana Del Rey and many others. When one watches a video that had used a UMG sound, the video is now silent, and “sound removed due to copyright restrictions” appears at the bottom of the screen.
Universal Music Group published a very fiery letter, titled “An Open Letter to the Artist and Songwriter Community, Why We Must Call Time Out on TikTok.”
UMG began by describing how important artists are to UMG, and how they only want what is best for their artists.
“The terms of our relationship with TikTok are set by contract,” which expired January 31st. “In our contract renewal discussions, we have been pressing them [TikTok] 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.”
TikTok users have speed-up songs, created and posted audios, and used AI for voice-overs. AI has also been used to sound like a certain artist, who then sing a song that is not their own. For example, Olivia Rodrigo’s voice can be used by AI, to make it sound like she is singing a Lana Del Ray song.
UMG claimed that “TikTok is trying to build a music-based business, without paying fair value for the music.”
“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,” UMG continued. How did TikTok try to intimidate them? “By selectively removing the music of certain of our developing artists, while keeping on the platform our audience-driving global stars.”
UMG ended their letter with, “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.”
(Read the full letter here.)
Abi Ambrose, an 8th grade OSA Vocal student explained that she is annoyed by the removal. “Half of my videos were muted, which was really annoying,” she said.
“Some of Megan Moroney’s music got pulled which made me a little sad, but it’s okay, I’ll live,” added Ambrose about her favorite artist who were pulled. “A lot of Taylor Swift music got pulled, Olivia Rodrigo, Renee Rapp, Lana Del Ray… all these people. But no, I don’t really care,” she finished.
So what does this all mean for TikTok users? Well, one would think that you can bypass the removed music by uploading your own recorded audio, but this theory is wrong. According to Forbes, “TikTok scans uploads and uses automated content recognition technology to check for matches against a database of copyrighted material.”
Automated Content Recognition is also called ACR. This technology, however, does not always catch copyrighted material. Record labels and other copyright owners can also run ACR on TikTok videos. If they find their content in a video, then they can issue a request to TikTok, known as a takedown notice; and TikTok will remove the music from the video, or take down the entire video.
The app offers a “video sound copyright check” setting in the app. This feature helps users avoid copyright strikes that could result in TikTok terminating their accounts.
ACR technology may get confused when identifying songs as well, for example, if a song is uploaded with a different instrument, or the pitch is severely changed. Another issue is that most of TikTok’s uploaded music are very short snippets of songs, making it harder for ACR tech to identify a copyrighted song.
As of now, TikTok doesn’t appear to be in talks with UMG to recover their artists.
All of this comes as The House of Representatives passed a bill to move towards banning TikTok if ByteDance, the owners of TikTok, refuse to sell the app. The bill has passed the house, and is now moving to the Senate. This isn’t the first time TikTok has been threatened to be banned in the US. However, this time, the possibility seems a little more serious, as the concern is that the Chinese-owned app is collecting massive data on US citizens.
"Communist China is America's largest geopolitical foe and is using technology to actively undermine America's economy and security," Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said in a statement after the vote, warning that TikTok could be used to access American data and spread "harmful" information, explained NBC.
On Wednesday March 13th, TikTok sent a notification to most users about calling their cities local representative, to describe how much TikTok means to them. “We are hopeful that the Senate will consider the facts, listen to their constituents, and realize the impact on the economy, 7 million small businesses, and the 170 million Americans who use our service," described a TikTok spokesperson to CNN.
Ambrose also commented about the possible ban, exclaiming “I am outraged! My source of info, gossip, entertainment, is just gonna be gone, and I think that’s unacceptable.”
When asked what she would do if TikTok becomes banned, however, she went on to say “I’d move to Instagram reels, they’re meaner but it’d be okay.”