A major event that shocked the global social media and industry broke out recently - the licensing cooperation negotiations between the copyright giant Universal Group (UMG) and the short platform TikTok broke down, resulting in an unprecedented copyright storm. Earlier this month, UMG officially announced that it would not renew its licensing agreement with TikTok, causing the two parties to part ways from January 31. This decision not only interrupted the years-long partnership between Universal** and TikTok, but also directly affected the creative and entertainment experience of hundreds of millions of users on the platform.
It is reported that after the termination of the cooperation agreement, Universal** has removed about 3 million songs from TikTok, including the works of many of the world's top artists such as Taylor Swift. What's even more worrying is that with the agreement between the two parties to release a catalog for UMG's vast library of songs about to expire completely this week, it is expected that an additional number of up to 4 million songs may be removed completely, and a total of up to 7 million songs may be removed from the TikTok platform from now on.
This copyright crisis is undoubtedly a major blow to TikTok. As one of the most popular short** apps in the world, TikTok has quickly risen to become the new social favorite of the younger generation due to its user's creative mash-up and virality of backgrounds**. However, without the support of the "big tree" of the Global Group, its content ecology will be severely impacted, and countless popular challenges, dances, and creative clips may be overshadowed by the loss of genuine soundtracks.
The industry generally believes that this rupture may reshape the copyright landscape in the digital age, forcing major social platforms to re-examine their copyright strategies and find a more sustainable cooperation model to maintain the enthusiasm and user experience of content creators. For ** people and fans, this copyright storm will also trigger an in-depth discussion on the issue of the right to use ** works and the distribution of value.
TikTok has not yet made an official response to this, but it is foreseeable that in order to fill the huge copyright gap, they must urgently negotiate new licensing agreements with other record labels or independents to prevent the loss of users and the decline of brand influence. At the same time, it also provides new opportunities for other **service platforms and emerging ** providers to seize market share.
The copyright dispute between Global and TikTok is not just a matter of commercial contracts, it is related to the reconstruction of copyright order in the digital transformation of the industry, and how social platforms can continue to promote their own innovation and development while protecting the rights and interests of creators.