TikTok responded to UMG's accusations by stating that UMG has put their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters. UMG has been closely monitoring the influx of AI-generated music, having previously opened a lawsuit against Anthropic for distributing copyrighted lyrics with its AI model. Despite these concerns, UMG has not completely dismissed AI technology, having partnered with YouTube to establish rules for AI music on the video platform. Meanwhile, TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, has been less cautious about adopting AI technology.
Key takeaways:
- Universal Music Group (UMG) is expected to pull its music catalogs from TikTok due to accusations of the platform trying to 'bully' and 'intimidate' the record label into accepting a subpar licensing deal.
- UMG has raised concerns about the risk that generative AI poses to the reputations and livelihoods of human performers, and the general safety of its artists on the platform.
- TikTok responded to UMG's accusations by stating that UMG has put their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters, and has chosen to walk away from the platform.
- UMG CEO Lucian Grainge warned that unregulated AI-generated music could wreak havoc on the industry, and the company is fighting to ensure AI technology can be carefully adopted without eroding the legitimacy of its performers and songwriters.