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Universal Music and TikTok have ended a dispute over royalties after the label pulled millions of songs from the social media platform.
The new licensing agreement means songs by some of the biggest artists in the world, including Drake, Adele and Billie Eilish will return to the site for use within the next two weeks.
TikTok, a short video app, is a valuable marketing and promotional tool for music stars. But in January, Universal claimed it paid artists and songwriters “a fraction” of the rate offered by similar social media platforms, and announced it was pulling its catalogue.
Universal is the biggest music label in the world and also looks after Taylor Swift – who allowed a selection of her songs to return to TikTok as she promoted her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department, in April. Swift owns the copyrights to her recordings through her 2018 deal with Universal and can control where her songs are available, according to the Financial Times.
The companies now say they have come to “a new multi-dimensional” licensing agreement that will deliver “significant industry-leading benefits” for Universal’s artists and labels.
In a joint statement, TikTok said it would continue to invest resources into “building artist-centric tools” and work on strengthening online safety protections for artists and their fans.
The AI issue
Drake, another Universal artist, has previously had his voice cloned for AI tracks. Pic: AP
The agreement means all videos that had been muted will be unmuted. It comes just over three months since Universal posted an open letter criticising TikTok, calling for higher payments for artists and songwriters, protection from the “harmful effects” of AI, and online safety.
In their joint statement, the companies now say they…
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