Recently, Triller had issues with UMG which caused Universal Music Publishing Group to withdraw all of their songs from the platform. This means popular songs including DaBaby, Lil Wayne and more are removed from Triller. This is because Triller refused to pay the appropriate amounts to artists.
To crash the party, TikTok came in and made a legendary deal with UMG. TikTok users will now have access to the entire catalog provided by UMG. This will include many labels and also will provide access to global regions. This is a huge win for artists who depend on social media streams for revenue.
Statement from @triller CEO Mike Lu: “This has to be a bad 'Punk'd' episode. I'm waiting for Ashton to jump out of my closet. Our relationship with UMG is solid. Its biggest artists are investors and partners in Triller and Universal owns part of Triller." https://t.co/DVM2QsSrab
— Todd Spangler (@xpangler) February 5, 2021
“We will not work with platforms that do not value artists,” a UMG spokesperson told Billboard. “Triller has shamefully withheld payments owed to our artists and refuses to negotiate a license going forward. We have no alternative except to remove our music from Triller, effective immediately.”
In case you didn't know the power of UMG, they have a number of reputable artists behind them. Artists include Lil Wayne, Kanye West, Rihanna, DaBaby, Kendrick Lamar, The Weeknd, Snoop Dogg, and Tyga. The crazy part of this story is that these artists mentioned also have shares of ownership for Triller. That's right, Triller has many artists backing them as well, but no words have yet been exchanged for this matter.
While Triller is having troubles right now, the opposite is true for TikTok. TikTok has been making songs viral one right after the other. The amount of trends happening in TikTok is uncountable as we see many dances, and many more videos that engages fans into more music. Some Billboard top hits were blown up from TikTok challenges like #BussIt and #JunebugChannenge.
Ole Obermann, Global Head of Music for TikTok, says the new partnership between UMG, UMPG and the video-based social media platform will allow the app to continue introducing emerging talent on a global scale.
“We are excited to enter this new era with UMG and UMPG to continue supporting artists and songwriters, by working together to help reach music fans on TikTok,” Ole Obermann said. “Our platform has been a driver in creating chart hits and licensing the world’s biggest catalog of tracks will continue to inspire our community. In turn, we are proud to partner with UMG and UMPG to be a source to help new talent emerge and to re-introduce legacy acts to a new audience.”
