News: Tik Tok & Universal Music Group Partner Up Announcing An “Expanded Global Alliance”

This alliance sets an industry-wide example of social media companies acknowledging, respecting and compensating the music creators whose songs are instrumental to their platforms. We appreciate Tik Tok’s partnership and look forward to working together to provide support and opportunities to our songwriters.

Marc Cimino
Chief Operating Officer of UMPG

Short form video app sensation Tik Tok and Universal Music Group have entered into a global licensing deal; announcing in a press release “TikTok users will now be able to incorporate clips from UMG’s full catalog of music, spanning the company’s iconic labels, songwriters and global territories.”

This comes not long after Universal Music Group pulled their entire catalog from Tik Tok’s rival company Triller, after UMG alleged that the platform had been withholding payments from the musicians signed to UMG.

UMG and TikTok will now work more closely than ever to promote ambitious experimentation, innovation and collaboration — with the shared objective of developing new music experiences and features. Driving new and deeper connections with fans, this agreement delivers equitable compensation to our recording artists and songwriters, as well as a commitment to develop industry-leading tools, A&R insights and models necessary to advance their careers.

Michael Nash
Executive Vice President of Digital Strategy at UMG

Tik Tok is a massive social media platform used by millions of people, where a user is able to create 15 – 60 second videos using clips from licensed music.

Many users are extremely well known for dancing and lip-synching to a variety of tracks, some of which have become major hits as they begin trends amongst users, especially when the users have a large, dedicated fan base. With some users having over a staggering 100 million followers, the music they choose in their videos could have a great impact for artists – as long as the artists are paid appropriately, of course.

UMG’s entire catalogue of music will now be available on the platform for Tik Tok users to do with as they please in their videos.

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. 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.

Ole Obermann
Global Head of Music for TikTok