One third of the world's music to be pulled from TikTok

[Galliardist]

Universal Music to pull songs from TikTok

It would mean the social media platform would no longer have access to songs by Taylor Swift, The Weeknd and Drake.

www.bbc.com

Universal, who own one third of the world's music as noted in the article, may pull their catalogue from TikTok.

I have no interest in TikTok, but it's a reminder who holds the power in the music business, and what they could do to any other music streaming service, just like that.

Thoughts?

 

[diddley]

My primary reaction is: I could care less.
But then if you think about it, it's kind of creepy the powers that are so big. if they would do something like this with spotify or so they could close the bussiness.

 

[AdrianusG]

My primary reaction is: I could care less.
But then if you think about it, it's kind of creepy the powers that are so big. if they would do something like this with spotify or so they could close the bussiness.

Unfortunately, these "streamers" can pull their content at any time, therefore for me NO streaming, at least not for music!
Regarding Video, i'm less concerned, so i'm with Disney+ and Netflix... but even here, when i really really love something, for instance a series or movie and especially with good Anime, i still buy on Blu-Ray.

 

[diddley]

I still buy the movies on Blu-Ray too. for the same reason.Plus i like to watch a film more then once over the years. I just bought and recieved ANIMAL HOUSE.great movie.

 

[sergeauckland]

I use Spotify a lot, mostly adding whole albums to my music library (a very useful function of LMS) but if there's any album I would be upset if it disappeared, I then buy the CD. As for Tiktok, I thought that was a platform for people to post themselves dancing? A bit like YouTube for those with an even shorter attention span.

S.

 

[Galliardist]

I use Spotify a lot, mostly adding whole albums to my music library (a very useful function of LMS) but if there's any album I would be upset if it disappeared, I then buy the CD. As for Tiktok, I thought that was a platform for people to post themselves dancing? A bit like YouTube for those with an even shorter attention span.

S.

That's as it was, but it's like any other social media app now, lots of shorts on any subject under the sun, including all those diet videos, weird challenges, actual real information and a bit of everything else. Including lots of official release videos for music, and so on. The way the app is structured, it deals with a lot of copyright and so on just like YouTube does.

But yes, there are the dance videos and so on. If the music is pulled, so is a lot of content including a lot of those dance videos, and a lot of other stuff including videos using library music and "free" music that links back to Universal. Maybe 20% of the entire contents of TikTok would go in the event of a ban.

It also does affect other platforms. For example, since you can't make a playlist on TikTok, someone who finds new music there will then stream it on Spotify/Apple/Amazon (I expect little crossover to the smaller services) which leads to further exposure if enough people find it.

And at the end of the day, it does demonstrate that one of the majors can put any streaming service out of business. I presume Apple and Spotify have decent lawyers who could fight such a thing, but copyright and ownership are copyright and ownership.

 

[anmpr1]

My first reaction, given the TikTok connection, was that at its root it was all about politics, not unlike the Roger Waters/BMG situation. But apparently not. This appears to be a strictly financial decision--both companies claiming to have Taylor Swift's best monetary interests in mind. At least it is that way if you can believe the article.

With streaming, or any pay as you go scheme, you're always at the mercy of whomever is upstream, controlling the spigot.

And this happens right when I wanted to listen to Sophie Ellis-Bextor's Murder on the Dancefloor, the tune caught in the crossfire between Universal and TikTok. Oh well, sometimes you just can't win. Guess I'll just have to go back to CDs and the Vinyl Rennaisance.

 

[Killingbeans]

Thoughts?

They're shooting themselves in the foot.

Even if TicTok payed them $zero for access to the catalogue, it would still be a goldmine of free advertising.

Considering that the music distribution industry on some level is in the same business as drug dealers, they sure haven't learned much.

 

[A Cute Earring]

Anything that disrupts TikToxic from its true mission of brainwashing the world is fine by me.

 

[restorer-john]

My primary reaction is: I could care less.

I couldn't care less.

Could not care less.

How hard is it? Get the saying correct or don't use it at all.

 

[FrantzM]

I use Spotify a lot, mostly adding whole albums to my music library (a very useful function of LMS) but if there's any album I would be upset if it disappeared, I then buy the CD. As for Tiktok, I thought that was a platform for people to post themselves dancing? A bit like YouTube for those with an even shorter attention span.

S.

I agree.
As for not using streaming because some corporation could/might/potentially pull their library, is not a very wise strategy. For those entities, doing so, could be costly for their reputation: They cannot go around pissing off people, the consequences would be dire. In the meantime , using Spotify and Apple Music, and listening to more music than ever in my life...

Peace

 

[Multicore]

My first reaction was: What does it mean for music to be "on TikTok"? I suppose its mobile app includes a music streaming feature among other things.

As for these particular negotiations, if Universal's catalog is on the usual streaming apps but TikTok won't pay enough to have it on theirs then that's a measure of how important the music streaming feature of the app is to TikTok.

 

[Galliardist]

My first reaction was: What does it mean for music to be "on TikTok"? I suppose its mobile app includes a music streaming feature among other things.

TikTok (I don't use it myself) is full of videos that music is a part of. Dancing, lip-syncing, background music for whatever, and also official music videos and clips from movies/TV that feature music. Didn't that sea shanty thing start on TikTok? If you have a vaguely successful social app, it will get used for everything the others do.

Because TikTok has so many of those "doing things to music" videos, it's quite vulnerable in that way.

 

[Multicore]

TikTok (I don't use it myself) is full of videos that music is a part of. Dancing, lip-syncing, background music for whatever, and also official music videos and clips from movies/TV that feature music. Didn't that sea shanty thing start on TikTok? If you have a vaguely successful social app, it will get used for everything the others do.

Because TikTok has so many of those "doing things to music" videos, it's quite vulnerable in that way.

Yes, I see. That brings in the remixing aspect. The labels have a lot of experience from yt, ig etc. So I guess the question is: What will the legal fight look like if TikTok doesn't come to terms and refuses to pull content that uses Universal's catalog. Then the whole thing gets political too, and therefore off topic here.

While I don't see much of it or do it myself, I think people doing creative things to music is great, especially if it is dance which was an everyday part of our lives before mass media displaced it and is a healthy, rewarding activity. The flip side is that I'm not keen on how apps direct ordinary social attention-seeking psychology through their software, stealing our social lives for advertising.

 

[diddley]

I couldn't care less.

Could not care less.

How hard is it? Get the saying correct or don't use it at all.

I just can't be as good as you are. And thats good, gives you something to whine about it.
Get a life.

 

[Chrispy]

Didn't know tiktok had music streaming. Never used tiktok, never likely will....hate those skinny videos