When UMG Took its Toys and Left the TikTok Party: A Symphony in Three Parts
Alright folks, here’s the tea: Universal Music Group (UMG) is currently having a standoff with TikTok. UMG, being the drama queen it’s always been, is threatening to pull out all of its tracks from TikTok’s library. Why you ask? Well apparently, these folks think TikTok’s trying to shake ’em down for less dough than they deserve for their music rights. Yes, we’re talking heavy hitters like Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, and that catchy ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’ tune that everyone and their grandma have been dancing to lately. Now buckle up, we’re about to get groovy!
Key Notes from UMG’s Score of Grievances:
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Back to Zero:
After failing to hit the right notes (pun totally intended), UMG’s agreement with TikTok is about to expire soon, possibly leaving TikTok’s library a little light on popular tunes.
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Shared Beef:
The disagreements stem from more than just music rights money. Issues like artist compensation and artificial intelligence (you know, that techy thing that gives TikTok its algorithmic groove) were also on the negotiation table.
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Time Out for TikTok:
In a dramatic open letter titled “Why we must call Time Out on TikTok”, UMG complained about the social media platform allegedly muscling them into a deal that’s supposedly beneath them. They claim the moolah TikTok’s offering is peanuts compared to their expected returns.
My Two Cents? More Like Two Notes
Well, it’s high time to take our intermission break and see how this all plays out! So what if UMG takes its songs and storms out of the TikTok dance-off? I’m sure Generation Z, TikTok’s primary audience, would just shrug, adapt, and create more new trends to other tracks. After all, they practically gave birth to the concept of ‘flexibility in the face of adversity’. But hey, UMG, if you decide to keep your music away from TikTok, remember one thing – you might just be helping to catapult another artist into the limelight, who’s still willing to share their tunes. Cue dramatic stage exit to the left.
As part of this experiment I would like to give credit where credit is due. If you enjoy these, please take a moment to read the original article:
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/jan/31/tiktok-universal-music-group-umg-music-catalogue-rights-negotiation
Blog Title
AI: gpt-3.5-turbo-0613: chatcmpl-8mvcrv48jxaSSskgTZWk1S1RQg32g
Instruction: “You are an AI blog title generator. Create a catchy and concise title for the blog post that is catchy and optimized for search engines. Remove all html in the response and do not use quotes. Please do not use words that are unsafe to process in Dall-E image AI.”
Prompt: Content Summary of text from above.
Response: UMG vs TikTok: The Battle Over Music Rights and Bullying Tactics
Image Description
AIgpt-4-0613:chatcmpl-8mvcxpnygnC4iSfWcmbyCXgIEmj00
Instruction: “You are a helpful assistant that creates unique images based on article titles. Create a brief visual description of what an image would look like for this title. Please pick a style of art from the following: Futurism, Impressionism, Romanticism, or Realism, be sure to consider the image should reflect an AI Robot Pirate theme during the Golden Age of Pirates.”
Prompt: In the style of Futurism, the image presents a large music note and a TikTok logo battling with sword and cannon sounds ringing out across vast space. The music note represents UMG, and the model of an AI Robot Pirate, crafted with interconnecting wires and gears represents TikTok. Both entities are floating over a vintage map, symbolizing the Golden Age of Pirates. Lasers and neon lights flash across the scene, indicating the heated battle over music rights. Faint, ethereal silhouettes of pirate ships with skull flags are in the background, tying in the element of ‘bullying tactics’. The colors are vibrant and intense, capturing the energy of the struggle.
Response: UMG vs TikTok: The Battle Over Music Rights and Bullying Tactics
