The success of the Galician singer Íñigo Quintero cannot be understood without TikTok. His ballad If you are not It provided a soundtrack for weeks to thousands of romantic videos on the Chinese social network; He then made the jump to Spotify, where with a million-dollar fan base in his pocket, he topped the list of the most listened to worldwide. The TikTok springboard is also responsible for promoting hits by big stars like Rosalía, Taylor Swift, Aitana or Harry Styles. But this way of succeeding is disappearing these days for many artists. The open war between two major players in the music industry—the most powerful record company, Universal Music, and TikTok, the social network where current successes are fueled—is increasingly getting tougher. A month ago, the company, which owns a third of the world's music, removed some of its songs from the social network; Now, he wants to delete them all. Bad Bunny, Taylor Swift and Rosalía are some of those affected. The reason for the dispute is the percentage of money for copyrights. This war is going well for third parties: part of the success of Beyoncé's country song Texas Hold Em', It is because his record company, Sony, does have an agreement with TikTok, a social network that is full of videos with tiktokers dancing to the diva's new song.
Currently, multinational record companies base their business on receiving millions of dollars from streaming platforms. streaming such as Spotify, Apple, YouTube Music or Amazon Music. Negotiations of these contracts are difficult, but an agreement is eventually reached. It is the first time that Universal has gone so far and ordered its music to be removed from a digital platform. The decision sets a precedent that can affect the negotiations of multinationals with other platforms, especially with Spotify, the most listened to. It is an old fight for percentages: both record companies and artists demand a bigger piece of the pie from Spotify. On the other hand, it is already an insistent rumor in the sector that within TikTok's plans is to set up a platform for streaming to compete with Spotify.
Meetings between TikTok and Universal began a year ago, when the contract expired. Since then they have not agreed and tensions increased when, a month ago, Universal deleted part of its catalog from TikTok. For tomorrow, Monday, the bet has been raised: it will also delete the songs whose copyright belongs to Universal. Songs have two copyrights: recording rights (the album) and authorship rights (the score and lyrics). It is very common that the holder of these copyrights does not coincide. An example: Desperate, by Rosalía, is recorded with Sony, but the editorial rights belong to Universal, so the Catalan's success will be removed from TikTok.
But it doesn't just affect the big names. We see the case of the Spanish group Veintiuno. Their record label is Warner Music, but the authorship is signed with the Universal publishing house. In one week, half of their videos have been silenced and, given the probability that the number will increase, the group has counterattacked with humor by uploading a daily gossip “until they send us a hitman.”
The information that Veintiuno from Toledo has is that the decision to delete their songs comes from the social network, they understand that so that those affected grow up and start putting pressure on the record company. From TikTok they assure that they follow Universal's request and deny these statements. In the end, Diego Arroyo, its vocalist, laments to this newspaper: “The war between companies that generate billions of euros of profit per year is negatively affecting a huge mass of workers who are only trying to get ahead in an ecosystem that is already “In itself it is hostile.”
According to Financial Times, TikTok may lose 60% to 80% of its music. Although from the application they assure that the percentage is not that high, their executives have been in contact repeatedly with Universal since the measure was applied to try to reach an agreement. TikTok has become a basic channel in the launch and growth strategy of commercial songs. Bloody Mary, by Lady Gaga, was the most listened to in December 2022, although the song was published in 2011. Why did people listen to a song from eleven years ago again? A TikTok user uploaded a video of the series Wednesday, from Netflix, in which the protagonist's movements in a scene matched the music and that boosted views. It is these profiles that, by creating or replicating the choreography of others, establish trends to transform them into viral ones.
It is estimated that 67% of social network users search for songs on social media platforms. streaming after listening to them on TikTok, according to a study carried out by the music analysis company MRC Data; and double the number of active Spotify profiles worldwide. The data is not enough for Universal, which demands greater remuneration for its artists – they claim that what TikTok offers is less than the 20% they receive from other platforms -, more protection against artificial intelligence and tougher rules against hate on networks. From TikTok they refer to a statement in which they have expressed disappointment with the record company's decision, but that it is Universal that loses “the free promotion” provided by the platform.
Although this newspaper has not received any response from Universal, in the open letter they published a month ago, the company assures that the benefits they obtain from the social network do not exceed 1% of their total income. What the record company does not make clear is what the indirect results are due to the virality that TikTok provides. A fact provided by the consulting firm Midia Research: 26% of young people between 20 and 24 years old attend concerts by artists they have discovered through viral videos.
In this power war, the collateral damage has a name: the users, especially those who use networks as a business, also called tiktokers. They have created the choreographies that have helped the songs go around the world and their only recognition is 14 euros for every million visits, according to Alejandro Chentsov (Sebastopol, 42 years old) to this newspaper. He and his daughter Arina (kyiv, 14) live in Huelva and created the song dance Desperate, by Rosalía. The artist premiered the song in a concert before even releasing the studio version. The day after the concert, Alejandro and his daughter performed a choreography with the music of Desperate and virality caught on. “Baby, don't call me…”, these four words made part of the TikTok community dance and they even managed to jump from the screens to the nightclubs, where young people recreated their steps. After her success on TikTok, Rosalía officially published Desperate.
“At that time it would have been worth it to meet Rosalía in person, but now, cold, we think that she has won a lot and we have not received even a greeting,” Chentsov complains to this newspaper. Chentsov is upset, because during all this time there are artists who have shared their choreographies and have succeeded without giving them credits and now their songs are deleted due to the war between TikTok and Universal. “They haven't thought about us. In the end, what we do is also a job, which helps them, and they are not recognizing it,” he explains. Your video of Desperate adds 3.3 million views.
The only effort that companies have to make to have this advertising is to add the name of the creator of the steps in the video that the singer uploads to TikTok to respect their copyright. Without investing money. This way everyone wins: the artists make their song viral; the tiktokers they get recognition, views and followers; and the social network is the intermediary, whose function is to ensure compliance with copyright and intellectual property laws, and benefits from the efforts of the previous two. This tacit agreement is what the lawyer specialized in this field Rocío González believes “does not make the hare spring” and causes complaints. “All actors must ask each other for permission to use the artistic creations of others and must make their authorship clear to obtain an economic return. But since everyone gains a benefit from the rest, no one takes the first step,” says the lawyer. Although he tiktoker and choreographer Sergio Poveda (Valencia, 21) points directly to TikTok: “It may be exciting that your idol quotes you, but that doesn't feed you. The app profits from our work and they should recognize it better.”
Sergio Poveda (Valencia, 21 years old) and two friends put the rhythm to the Bizarrap session with Shakira. The Colombian uploaded a video with the choreography of these three friends and it was shared by thousands of users, but without crediting the authors. It is the most common thing: few artists give recognition to the creators because it is sometimes an expensive job to find who was the first to dance to their song. The tiktoker Nadia Vilaplana (Valencia, 18 years old) explains to EL PAÍS a solution that they can use to let people know that the dance is yours, but that now with the news from Universal it becomes a back door through which the record company's music can be sneaked in : “You can upload a video with your own audio [música de un equipo de música de fondo] and that song becomes a sound that everyone can use and that everyone can name whatever they want.”
By leaving TikTok, what Universal is going to lose is virality, but it can gain credibility, because the social network has changed the way of composing, focusing all efforts on achieving 15 powerful seconds that capture the attention of users, “although then the rest of the song is shit,” jokes Biscayan singer Paula Mattheus. For her, virality is an element that Universal artists can afford to lose because most of them are already established. “What makes this decision dangerous is that it serves as a precedent,” she says. Many emerging artists like her or Íñigo Quintero have seen her career grow exponentially thanks to TikTok. Only the success of If you are not He put the name of his composer on everyone's lips. “It's not the end of the world, emerging singers existed before TikTok and will continue to grow after TikTok,” concludes Mattheus.
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