Musicians at war with TikTok: Industry claims top artists are underpaid

Tik Tok has been accused of being curt with artists and labels for their music — with industry warnings that payouts could get even worse under new plans.

The Chinese video-sharing platform has more than a billion monthly users and has surged in popularity during the pandemic thanks to catchy songs and fun dance videos.

But estimates suggest that Tik Tok, owned by Bytedance, paid out just £148 million in total to labels and artists over the course of 2021, bringing in annual revenues of more than £3 billion.

This represented less than 5 percent of Tik Tok revenue, according to an analysis by industry site Music Business Worldwide. Competitor YouTube, on the other hand, has paid out more than £3 billion – or about 14 per cent of its ad revenue – to music rights holders.

Labels’ main argument is that because music plays such a fundamental role, they should get a bigger slice of the Tik Tok pie, like YouTube.

It is clear that TikTok will be renegotiating its contracts with the major labels in the coming weeks. However, the reality is that Tik Tok’s economy is often shrouded in mystery.

David Martin, CEO of Featured Artists Coalition (FAC), a trade organization that represents musicians’ rights, said artists (like Taylor Swift, pictured) were “frustrated with the lack of transparency.”

“The frustration is that artists are often left out of those conversations,” he said.

British singer Kelli-Leigh, who released her debut single Do You Wanna Be Loved Like This? in 2018 on her own label and performed with the likes of Adele and Leona Lewis, telling the Mail: ‘Ultimately,

I don’t hear that many artists receive a fair or decent amount of revenue for their works on Tik Tok. I’m not sure if I’ve seen any royalties from music usage I’ve been involved with on the platform.”

Discussing Tik Tok’s growth, Universal Music boss Sir Lucian Grainge recently said, “If you look at the billions of views, the rate at which the business has grown, we will fight and determine how our artists get paid and when they get paid.” paid. , in the same way that we have been doing for years across the industry.”

Labels and trade organizations are also concerned that a trial by Tik Tok Australia could lead to more radical changes to artist pay.

Tik Tok has reduced the number of songs available to 3.5 million users Down Under, muting certain artists.

The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), an open and impassioned critic of the lawsuit, suggested the Chinese giant could use it as evidence to further lower the amount it pays the industry by downplaying the importance of music to users.

“After exploiting artist content and fan relationships to build the platform, Tik Tok is now seeking to rationalize artist compensation by testing the role of music in content discovery,” said ARIA- boss Annabelle Herd.

And it’s not just Australia that the industry is concerned about.

A major label executive told the Mail: “What begins as an isolated case in Australia could quickly spill over to other parts of the world – creating a huge and widening value gap with the music industry and negatively impacting consumers, makers, culture and other businesses.

“Tik Tok continues to put its thumb on the scale to cut costs and favor its own distribution channel.

“The company is exercising its market power in music to increase wealth concentration for Bytedance owners at the expense of artists and songwriters.”

This was echoed by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), the British trade association representing 450 labels, including the three ‘majors’ Universal Music, Sony Music and Warner Music.

BPI chief Sophie Jones said: “Instead of shutting fans off from artists and songwriters, Tik Tok should focus its efforts on tackling building a business model that recognizes the value of music on the platform.”

A Tik Tok spokesperson said: ‘We are currently analyzing how sounds are being accessed and added to videos in Australia, while also trying to improve and enhance the wider sound library.

“This has resulted in some of the community not being able to access our entire Tik Tok Sounds library. This change will not be in effect for long and not all music will be affected.”

It said speculation about expanding this test to other markets was “unfounded.”