Agreement comes days after UMG pulled its music from rival app Triller
Sean Burch | February 8, 2021 @ 3:33 PM
Universal Music Group on Monday signed an expanded global licensing deal with TikTok — a deal that comes, coincidentally or not, only days after UMG removed its catalog from Triller, a rival app to TikTok.
Under the new deal, “TikTok users will be more empowered than ever to express themselves through music, soundtrack their video creations with songs about which they are passionate and build communities around artists and music-centered culture,” according to a UMG press release.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but UMG said it will deliver “equitable compensation to our recording artists and songwriters,” a phrase that stands out after UMG ripped Triller, saying the app had “shamefully” withheld payment to musicians. Triller, in response, said its deal with UMG recently expired and that its been negotiating to reach a new agreement. (Triller CEO Mike Lu went a step further, telling Billboard this must be a bad “Punk’d” episode.”I’m waiting for Ashton to jump out of my closet,” Lu said.)