Universal Music Group Will Withdraw Catalog From TikTok, Including Lyodra, Ziva Magnolya And Tiara Andini Songs

Lyodra, a singer under Universal Music Indonesia (Instagram @lyodraofficial)

JAKARTA - Universal Music Group (UMG) decided not to continue the cooperation contract with TikTok which ended on January 31. This makes a catalog of them not available on the platform.

In an open letter to artists and songwriters under its auspices on January 30, UMG said that the compensation obtained from TikTok was not comparable to its very rapid development.

"Currently, as an indication of how small the compensation TikTok provides to artists and songwriters, although its user base is huge and continues to grow, advertising revenue is increasing rapidly, and dependence on music-based content is increasing, TikTok only accounts for about 1% of our total revenue," the UMG open letter reads.

In the end, TikTok tried to build a music-based business, without paying a fair value for the music.

Furthermore, UMG also expressed dissatisfaction with TikTok's response to the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in music.

Regarding AI, TikTok let its platform be flooded with AI-generated recordings, as well as developing tools to enable, promote, and encourage AI music creation on the platform itself, and then demand contract rights that allow this content to be massively diluted.

With this decision, songs from big names such as Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and Ariana Grande will disappear from TikTok.

This UMG decision will also apply to Universal Music Indonesia (UMI) and other companies that are part of it.

Universal Music Indonesia, a division of Universal Music Group (UMG), a world leader in music-based entertainment," reads a statement on Universal Music Group's official website.

Some of the songs from Indonesia's big names are known to be in the UMI catalog, including Lyodra, Ziva Magnolya and Tiara Andini.

The albums and singles released by Lyodra since 2020 have been produced by UMI, including the Last Message, and Regret.

Furthermore, all songs from Ziva Magnolya were also produced by UMI, including the Best Choice, Regret, Beautiful Painting, and My Love Fisheries.

Similar to Ziva, the songs released by Tiara Andini are also produced by UMI, such as Cintanya Aku, Feeling Beautiful, and Promise Setia.