{"id":103893,"date":"2024-10-03T21:04:17","date_gmt":"2024-10-04T01:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2024\/10\/03\/indie-trade-bodies-condemn-tiktok-for-walking-away-from-merlin-negotiations\/"},"modified":"2024-10-03T21:04:17","modified_gmt":"2024-10-04T01:04:17","slug":"indie-trade-bodies-condemn-tiktok-for-walking-away-from-merlin-negotiations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2024\/10\/03\/indie-trade-bodies-condemn-tiktok-for-walking-away-from-merlin-negotiations\/","title":{"rendered":"Indie Trade Bodies Condemn TikTok for Walking Away from Merlin\u00a0Negotiations"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\tIndependent music trade bodies have hit out at TikTok for boycotting collective license talks with Merlin by seeking to strike direct deals with its indie label members, accusing the platform of trying to divide the sector and \u201cdrive down the value\u201d of music.<\/p>\n

\n\tLicensing talks between TikTok and Merlin, which negotiates digital licenses for a coalition of more than 30,000 independent labels and music companies, representing 15% of the global recorded music market, abruptly ended late last month when \u201cTikTok walked away before negotiations even began,\u201d according to a letter<\/a> Merlin sent to its members on Friday (Sept. 27).<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tTikTok \u2018Walked Away\u2019 From Talks With Merlin. Now Indie Songs by Nirvana, Phoebe Bridgers & More May\u2026\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\n\tThe London-headquartered indie rights organization, which counts the labels 4AD, Domino, Matador, Subpop, Partisan, Warp, XL Recordings and Secretly Group among its members, said that TikTok told them that it would not be renewing its license deal, due to expire Oct. 31, and was instead looking to licence its members directly.<\/p>\n

\n\tA spokesperson for TikTok confirmed Monday (Oct. 1) that it was \u201ccommitted to entering into direct deals with Merlin members in order to keep their music on TikTok.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOne of the reasons TikTok has given for not renegotiating its deal with Merlin is its concerns over alleged streaming fraud, which a TikTok spokesperson told Billboard <\/em>specifically relates to a handful of Merlin members delivering songs or remixes of songs that they don\u2019t own the rights to.<\/p>\n

\n\tAddressing those allegations, Merlin told members it has worked \u201cproductively and collaboratively with TikTok\u201d on streaming manipulation and fraudulent content \u201cand until now, no concerns have been raised.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tExecutives and trade bodies from across the independent music sector have also called into question TikTok\u2019s reasoning for not renewing its deal with Merlin, while also slamming its attempts to boycott collective licensing with the company.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tWhat Is the Value of Music for\u00a0TikTok?\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\n\tBrussels-based independent labels trade body IMPALA, which represents over 6,000 indie music companies in Europe and has previously criticized TikTok for the low returns it pays to rightsholders, said it strongly opposed TikTok\u2019s attempts to boycott Merlin.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cGiven the timing, it seems clear that TikTok\u2019s real intention is to fragment the sector and drive down the value of independent music, rather than deal with streaming manipulation,\u201d said Mark Kitcatt<\/strong>, chair of IMPALA\u2019s streaming group, in a statement on Thursday (Oct. 3).<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cRecord labels have entrusted their rights to Merlin to negotiate on their behalf and by TikTok going directly to rights holders they are disrespecting the licensing agreements that are in place,\u201d added Dan Waite<\/strong>, chair of IMPALA\u2019s digital committee. \u201cLike a supermarket chain negotiating directly with individual farmers for the price of their milk, it\u2019s difficult to see how this can work out in the farmers\u2019 favour.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tReferencing TikTok\u2019s cited concerns around streaming manipulation, IMPALA\u2019s executive chair Helen Smith<\/strong> questioned how seeking direct deals with Merlin members would better address the issue than renewing a collective license. \u201cThis feels like a smoke screen for boycotting Merlin given the history and the timing and the fact the whole industry is working hard on this important issue,\u201d said Smith in a statement.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cTikTok\u2019s claim that leaving Merlin would alleviate fraud is technically and effectively incorrect,\u201d Gee Davy<\/strong>, interim CEO of the U.K.-based Association of Independent Music (AIM), tells Billboard<\/em>. She claims that TikTok can already choose which music catalogs it uploads through the Merlin deal, and stresses it is by the industry working together \u201cand TikTok re-engaging with Merlin that the industry will fight online fraud.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tTime\u2019s Up: TikTok Music Is Shutting\u00a0Down\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\n\t\u201cThe resource required to close deals and manage a large number of independent music relationships, take down unlicensed music, and handle fraud separately across a number of participants would surely outweigh any gains,\u201d says Davy. \u201cAnd that\u2019s aside from any reputational issues that arise from TikTok claiming to respect independent music while in practice showing that they don\u2019t respect the licensing choices of independent music businesses. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMany smaller labels and artists will be locked out of any direct licensing, which will sour relations as well as set back many years of work by Merlin, AIM and others in improving equitable access to the market and diversity of music available to consumers. We urge TikTok to speak to us and consider the bigger picture and; most of all, to recognise the inadvertent damage their actions have caused and return to discussions with Merlin.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThose sentiments were echoed by Dr. Richard Burgess<\/strong>, president of the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM), who earlier this week told Billboard<\/em>: \u201cTikTok\u2019s refusal to negotiate a deal with Merlin isn\u2019t just a setback \u2014 it\u2019s a threat to the whole music ecosystem.\u201d Burgess said the dispute \u201cisn\u2019t just about Merlin; it\u2019s about properly recognizing the value of artists and their music.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Brussels-based International Music Publishers Forum (IMPF) has also urged TikTok to reengage and strike a licensing agreement with Merlin, calling its attempts to \u201ccircumnavigate\u201d collective licensing \u201ca thinly veiled attempt to divide independent labels and drive down the price of music.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMerlin\u2019s members have entrusted their rights to the organisation in order to uphold transparency, efficiency and fair remuneration. That must be respected,\u201d said IMPF in a statement.<\/p>\n

\n\tMerlin is the third music organization this year, after Universal Music Group (UMG) and the National Music Publishers\u2019 Association (NMPA), to express challenges in renewing music licenses with TikTok. In February, UMG\u2019s failure to reach a deal with TikTok led to the removal<\/a> of its entire catalog of hits from TikTok for about three months.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn April, after publicly supporting UMG\u2019s position against TikTok, the NMPA allowed its TikTok license, which was used by a number of indie publishers, to lapse as well<\/a>. It has not been renewed. A spokesperson for TikTok says that many of the indie publishers have now established their own direct licenses with the short-form app.<\/p>\n

\n\tUnless a swift resolution can be found between TikTok and Merlin \u2014 or Merlin\u2019s label members choose to negotiate individual license deals with the ByteDance-owned platform \u2014 hit songs from artists like Nirvana, Phoebe Bridgers, Diplo, The Lumineers, Mac Demarco, Madlib, Mitski, Thundercat, Wet Leg and Coolio could start to be removed from TikTok on Nov. 1.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Aller \u00e0 la source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Independent music trade bodies have hit out at TikTok for boycotting collective license talks with Merlin by seeking to strike direct deals with its indie label members, accusing the platform of trying to divide the sector and \u201cdrive down the value\u201d of music. Licensing talks between TikTok and Merlin, which negotiates digital licenses for a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musique","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103893\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}