Universal vs. TikTok: When Copyright Silences One of the Most Important Social Networks

On January 31, 2024, the copyright license agreement between Universal Music Group (UMG), the world's largest music company, and TikTok owner ByteDance Ltd. expired without a renewal agreement.

The termination of this contract had the immediate effect of silencing a significant amount of content on the platform. Without the authorization to exploit copyrights, TikTok was forced to disable the reproduction of all audio content from artists belonging to UMG’s catalog, including Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Romeo Santos, J Balvin, and Imagine Dragons, among many others.

In Colombia, Article 166 of Law 23 of 1982 empowers performers or their representatives to authorize or prohibit the reproduction, public communication, or any other form of use of their performances. However, similar laws exist in most jurisdictions, which is why the impact on the social network has been global.

Millions of daily users now face messages like "Sound removed due to copyright restrictions" or "This sound is not available," leaving a large portion of content without a soundtrack.

On the day of the contract termination, the music giant published an open letter to the artist and composer community explaining why they had to "take a time out on TikTok." In this statement, Universal accuses TikTok of not compensating the artists it represents fairly and in line with the market, stating that despite the platform's enormous user base, it only accounted for 1% of the music company's revenue.

"TikTok proposed to pay our artists and composers a rate that is a fraction of the rate that major social platforms pay in similar situations. (...) TikTok is trying to build a business based on music, without paying fair value for music."

For its part, the Chinese platform communicated that Universal is putting its greed before the interests of artists and composers, arguing that TikTok is a free promotional tool for talents and artists they have failed to take advantage of.

Beyond the money, the dispute revolves around artificial intelligence and its impact on copyright. Universal refers to the multiplication on TikTok of the content generated by artificial intelligence (AI), a tool that challenges the very foundation of copyright and its philosophy of promoting intellectual activity.

Tensions between digital platforms and music companies are recurrent in the industry, as seen in the confrontation between Warner Music and YouTube in 2008. However, Universal's decision to withdraw its catalog from TikTok marks a milestone due to the magnitude of the impact.