TikTok seals licensing deal with Warner Music Group

 By Emmanuel Legrand

TikTok has now two licensing deals in place with major record companies, following the agreement signed by the short video platform with Warner Music Group at the beginning of 2021. The WMG deal covers both recordings and publishing, via Warner Chappell Music. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

  Last November, TikTok signed a licensing deal with Sony Music Entertainment, which leaves Universal Music Group as the remaining major TikTok needs to seal a licensing deal with. The WMG deal also follows the multi-year licensing agreement with Pan-European licensing hub ICE.  

Value for artists

  “It feels like we’ve seen years’ worth of change and evolution in the course of a handful of months," said WMG’s Chief Digital Officer Oana Ruxandra in an interview with Bloomberg. “We want to ensure there’s value for our artists across the board, and the goal is to ensure that they make money to live their lives.”

  TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, has accelerated its interaction with the music sector in 2020 thanks mainly to the efforts of global head of music OleObermann, while the platform has turned into a powerful promotional and marketing tool for artists and labels. TikTok claims to have more than 800 million users worldwide.

Bowie lands on TikTok

  In addition, TikTok announced that the music of David Bowie is now available to the TikTok community, following a partnership agreement with Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and The David Bowie estate. TikTok has set up a Bowie channel at @DavidBowie, featuring videos from his life and work across over five decades of music. 

  Paul Hourican, Head of UK Music Operations at TikTok said: “We are truly honoured to welcome David Bowie and his music to TikTok. He remains one of the most influential and acclaimed artists of all time and his music has defined multiple generations and cultural moments. We know the excitement our community will find discovering his music and creating using the indisputable Bowie sound.”