According to the NMPA – whose members include all three major music publishers, plus the world’s biggest indies – the deal “accounts for TikTok’s past use of musical works” as well as setting up a “forward-looking partnership”.
The first part of that phrasing suggests that TikTok has agreed to pay the NMPA a fee for unlicensed usage of its members’ works in the past.
The second part (the bit about the “forward-looking partnership”) will give NMPA members the ability to opt-in to a licensing agreement which is effective retroactively as of May 1, 2020.
The deal appears to have brought to a close mounting tensions between the NMPA and TikTok – with the former party publicly (and very deliberately) heaping pressure on the Bytedance-owned company.
In October 2019, the NMPA called for the “scrutiny” of TikTok, writing that the video-sharing platform has “consistently violated US copyright law and the rights of songwriters and music publishers”.
And in April, according to a Financial Times report, music publishers – via the NMPA – officially threatened to sue TikTok.
At the time, David Israelite, CEO of the NMPA, told the FT that a lawsuit against TikTok for copyright infringement was a “likely future step”.
As you’d expect, Israelite’s quote announcing today’s news is rather more cordial.
He said: “We are pleased to find a way forward with TikTok which benefits songwriters and publishers and offers them critical compensation for their work.
“Music is an important part of apps like TikTok which merge songs with expression and popularize new music while also giving new life to classic songs.
“This agreement respects the work of creators and gives them a way to be paid for their essential contributions to the platform.”
“We’re excited to partner with the NMPA to bring their member companies on to the platform and help hundreds of millions of people discover and enjoy their songs.”
Ole Obermann, Global Head of Music at TikTok, said: “TikTok is proud to partner with music publishers and songwriters to enable artist and song discovery, and support revenue opportunities.
“We’re excited to partner with the NMPA to bring their member companies on to the platform and help hundreds of millions of people discover and enjoy their songs.
“We look forward to continuing to work with songwriters to help them use TikTok as a powerful and innovative channel to reach a global audience through a unique format of creation and engagement.”
“This agreement respects the work of creators and gives them a way to be paid for their essential contributions to the platform.”
David Israelite, NMPA
The new deal follows yesterday’s news (July 22), that TikTok has signed a multi-year distribution and marketing agreement with Paris-headquartered Believe.Music Business Worldwide
