TikTok's Music Dilemma: How Much Is It Worth?

TikTok recently faced a question: What happens when music is missing? Last year, the app ran tests in Australia, limiting licensed music for some users. Many Australian users took to Twitter to complain about the change. This suggests that music is indeed important to the user experience. Since its start as Musical.ly, TikTok has struggled with the value of music. It's a major music discovery tool, but the company isn't sure how much it should pay for music. Recently, TikTok fought with Universal Music Group (UMG) over music licensing rates and safety issues. During this fight, many UMG artists were temporarily removed from the platform.

Surprisingly, many users didn't notice a big change. Videos on the "For You Page" continued to have music, just not from UMG artists. Even after the fight, many artists still wanted to make content for TikTok, even if it meant using unauthorized remixes of their own songs. Now, TikTok is dealing with Merlin, a group that represents 30,000 indie labels. TikTok wants to negotiate deals with these labels individually, which Merlin sees as a way to pay less. TikTok's parent company, Bytedance, is also in a legal battle with the U.S. government, which could force a sale of TikTok's U.S. business. This could be why TikTok is trying to cut costs. So, what's the value of music to TikTok? It's a tricky question. The app wants to use music, but it's not clear how much it's willing to pay for it.

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