MBW Reacts is an ongoing series of commentary pieces from Global Music Business team. They are our analytical (and sometimes obstinate) responses to recent major entertainment news stories.
Picture it.
You click on the viral TikTok star video, Nathan Apodaca skating on the highway with his bottle of Ocean Spray. However, instead of listening to Fleetwood Mac’s dream – whose feel-good video of the famous Apodaca became a TikTok super hit in 2020 – all you hear is the sound of his wheels on the tarmac… because the song has been muted forever by ByteDance– own video giant.
Now imagine the same silent scenario for the viral Harry Styles As it used to be challenge, or by Taylor Swift anti hero Challenge or any other music-led viral moment on a platform controlled by a major music company.
This is the hypothetical reality of TikTok not having major record company content, and a scenario that doesn’t seem too far-fetched when you take a closer look at the platform’s moves with the music business over the past few years. past year.
Earlier this month, we learned that TikTok was running a test in Australia to see how important music signed by a major record company is to users when they create content on the app.
The experiment involves limiting access to songs to a select group of users in the market when they upload new videos, but also – importantly – ‘mute’ the sound of some songs singing used in previous videos.
Just to reiterate: TikTok has REMOVE music by the major record company from its service to a small group of users in Oz. The silent scenario I just asked you to imagine happened to content on this platform.
According to guardianAustralian TikTok star Mary McGillivray, content has been liked 10.9 million won times, have seen ‘about 57% of her back catalog’Video content on the platform is “unwatchable” due to the sound being muted by TikTok in Australia.
Some in the music industry argue that viral, music-centric videos have fueled TikTok’s growth. As a result, professionals want more money from the platform to use their content.
Such deals can guarantee large companies a guaranteed percentage of revenue generated on music-led TikTok videos, as opposed to so-called vacancies. ‘repurchase’ experts have reached agreements with TikTok regarding their rights to date.
MBW’s sources suggest that the results of the ongoing Australian test are being used by TikTok in their current licensing negotiations with majors.
Here are two possible outcomes from TikTok’s Australian test:
(One) User engagement drops when the main label content is removed. TikTok discovered that it needed this ‘premium’ music to keep its user base happy and engaged.
(b) User engagement remains the same or even grow in the testing phase. TikTok proves, at least in the short term, that it doesn’t need big-brand content to run a successful platform.
Imagine the following happens, and as a result TikTok refuses to pay extra or sign revenue-sharing agreements with major companies.
All catalogs of record companies were eventually pulled from this platform. And as TikTok’s more than a billion users inevitably find ways to upload content from major brands to TikTok, the service has been subject to countless piracy takedown notices from their once-in-a-lifetime friends. music country.
Here’s what’s really interesting about such a logical outcome: ByteDance can have prepare for a worst-case scenario like this, when some (or all) of the main label’s content disappears from its TikTok video platform.
That preparation has largely been done in the form of two strategic moves: (i) TikTok’s entrance into the artist services space through SoundOn; and (ii) TikTok/ByteDance’s investment in AI music creation.
TikTok’s entrance into the artist services space through SoundOn
TikTok has established its own independent distribution and marketing service, SoundOn, which will ensure a steady stream of music for the platform.
Distribution service, launched in UK, US, Brazil and Indonesia March 2022, which was launched in Australia last week, is curious to arrive in the territory at the same time that the company has begun restricting access to music by major labels to some users.
If you don’t know how seriously TikTok is taking in developing its own music repertoire, check out these two job titles currently available on ByteDance’s careers website:
Global Music Distribution Executive Team Leader. Requirements: Over 5 years of experience in the music industry. Sample job advertisement text: “Working with key business, legal, copyright and royalty partners to help shape services for artists and brands.”;
Head of Label Services and A&R, North America. Requirements: Over 8 years of experience in the music industry, with a “proven track record of finding emerging artists with world-class talent and commercial potential”. Sample job advertisement text: “With this role, you will ensure that artists and brand partners see TikTok as their #1 partner to develop, promote, and monetize artists. Focusing on the North American music scene, you’ll be signing and developing artists and partners you trust.”
SoundOn is described by TikTok as an “all-in-one platform for music marketing and distribution” and designed “to empower new and undiscovered artists”.
Artists who sign up for the platform will have access to insights and audience growth, as well as “expert advice” from a dedicated SoundOn team of artists.
According to SoundOn’s website, the platform will soon allow artists to work with TikTok creators to amplify their music, and it will also allow artists to “spend budgets promoting their music.” through self-service tools.
Artists can also directly upload their music to TikTok’s commercial music library ‘allowing brands to use [their] the music in the video is organic and promoted,’ based on SoundOn.
TikTok’s commercial music library also features music and sounds from over 20 ‘Audio Partners’, from United Masters arrives songtradr And audio translation.
Bet on ByteDance’s Artificial Intelligence
…
MBW announced last summer that TikTok and parent company ByteDance have recruitment for a number of highly skilled AI and machine learning music creation professionals in both the US and China.
The massive hiring spree seems to mark ByteDance’s ambition to double down on AI-powered music creation, after redemption in July 2019, by Jukedeck, a UK-based AI Music startup specializing in create royalty free music for user-generated online videos.
If you take a closer look at what’s happening in the broader global music streaming market in regards to AI music, the possibilities around TikTok’s investment in AI music creation tools and talent become more much clearer.
Focus on MENA Spotify competitor Englishfor example, announced in December that it would soon become the first platform hosted on 200,000 yen AI-generated songs.
In November, MBW reported that Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) – the owner of China’s largest music streaming platforms – had create and released more than 1,000 tracks contains vocals created by AI technology that mimics human voices.
What’s stopping TikTok from flooding its own platform with AI-generated tracks?
At the end of October, during Universal Music Group’s Q3 earnings call, UMGPresident and CEO of, Sir Lucian Graingecommented on TikTok’s future relationship with (and payments to) the music industry.
cereal tell analysts “I have seen this movie before”, quote YouTube as an example of a social media platform that has become a significant revenue generator for the music industry.
He continued: “When you look at the position of the industry, where we were a company with YouTube 10, 12, 15 years ago; YouTube recently announced that they are pay $6 billion to copyright holders over a one-year period. They have stated that they want to be the number one revenue contributor to the music industry by 2025.
“When you look at the channel that TikTok has, when you look at the billions of views, the rate at which the company has grown, we fight and determine how our artists are paid and when they get paid. pay, in a similar way that we have done throughout the industry for many years. I’ve seen this movie before, I know the ending.”
But what if ByteDance had a different ending in mind for this movie? Can an ending exist without major studio content?
Are over a billion users worldwide really feeling the loss of the superstars’ sound – and willing to replace them with indie repertoire and AI music?
What does this mean for the hunt for the TikTok trend that has fueled the advertising strategies of major record companies in recent years?
Unlike YouTube, TikTok has never publicly stated that it wants to be the biggest revenue generator for the music industry. But it Have has been very vocal about its role as artist king.
According to Tik Tok Year-end, 13 out of 14 billboards Hot 100 songs No.1 in 2022 “driven by significant viral trends on TikTok”.
As a result, the industry’s current power dynamics would be in immediate disarray if TikTok broke its ties to majors and access to some or all of their content.
With music playing such an important role in TikTok’s rise, should major label content disappear from the platform – and somehow the void is successfully filled by unique creations. created and controlled by AI – it is safe to say that TikTok has escaped one of the biggest heists worldwide. music business history. A bait and converter for a billion users.Global Music Business
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