The Impact of the Universal Music Group and TikTok Collaboration Ending: What You Need to Know

The lack of continuation in the collaboration between Universal Music Group (UMG) and TikTok has resulted in the withdrawal of more songs from the social video network, as it also affects songs created by composers contracted by the American music label.

At the end of January, the deadline for UMG ByteDance to renew the partnership that allowed TikTok users to use songs by artists such as Taylor Swift or Bad Bunny in their videos expired.

TikTok continues to have problems worldwide | Photo: Getty Images / Nur Photo

From TikTok Communication they assure that they follow the record label’s request to remove all their songs from the platform. “Their actions not only affect the composers and artists they represent, but now also impact many artists and composers who have not signed with Universal,” they point out.

The Chinese company claims to be working with UMG to “reach an equitable agreement,” but in the meantime, users of its social network can “enjoy, discover and share millions of tracks from artists, composers and labels.”

The end of the collaboration between the two companies is due, as Universal Music indicated in January, to the negotiation they have had on some “critical” issues for the renewal of the contract, such as “adequate” compensation for their artists and composers, the protection of human performers from the “harmful effects of AI” and online safety for TikTok users, the companies have not reached an agreement.

Artists and users have been affected by this decision by the companies. | Photo: Getty Images

TikTok announces change that will make it much more like YouTube

TikTok has begun to encourage content creators to publish videos in horizontal format and lasting more than one minute, which will receive a greater number of views in the 72 hours after their publication.

The platform owned by ByteDance is known for offering short video content in vertical format, so that users move from one to another by sliding on the screen, in a video system adapted to viewing on smartphones. In fact, since its beginnings in 2016 -although it arrived in Spain in 2018-, the original format was videos with a maximum duration of 15 seconds.

However, TikTok has begun to promote the creation of long-form, horizontal video content among the platform’s creator users, according to analyst Matt Navarra.

As Navarra has shared through a Threads publication and other users through videos on the platform itself, TikTok is showing a notification titled ‘video viewing enhancer’, with which those publications that last will receive “improved views”. more than one minute and are in horizontal or landscape format.

Specifically, TikTok will “boost” these videos within 72 hours of their publication. Likewise, this system will be used in the publications of those creators who have been part of the platform for more than three months, and who do not offer content related to advertisements or political parties.

In this photo illustration a TikTok logo is displayed on a smartphone screen in Athens, Greece on January 18, 2023. (Photo illustration by Nikolas Kokovlis/NurPhoto via Getty Images) | Foto: NurPhoto via Getty Images

Following this line, as was learned last week, the social network is also testing the option of uploading videos of up to 30 minutes in length. A feature that is already available in the most recent beta version of TikTok.

In this framework, the Chinese social network seems to be testing a new content format, more similar to that of other platforms such as YouTube, which is recognized for the publication of long videos in horizontal format, although it also has the Shorts ‘feed’, which It was born, precisely, following in the wake of TikTok.

2024-03-01 17:10:42
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