Ediz Ozelkan, University of Colorado Boulder – Music Artists Hurt by TikTok Licensing Snafu

Musical artists are being hurt by a new TikTok licensing snafu.

Ediz Ozelkan, lecturer in the media studies department at the University of Colorado Boulder, takes a listen to find out more.

I graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2023 with my PhD in media research and practice. I am currently a lecturer in the media studies department. My dissertation asks if music streaming services helped or hurt economic opportunities for music professionals, using a political economic lens and quantitative methods to measure the impact of technology on opportunity in media. This project is being reworked into a book-length manuscript. I also have an M.A. in American Studies from Columbia University and a B.S. in sociology from SUNY Old Westbury. My research has ranged from cultural sociology; hip hop and music studies; political economy; media and labor economics; and pedagogy.

Music Artists Hurt by TikTok Licensing Snafu

For much of the year, TikTok has been on the defensive. Recently, the House of Representatives voted to approve a bill that would force TikTok to be sold off from its Chinese parent company or face a ban in the U.S. due to national security concerns. Meanwhile, Universal Music Group, a major record label, stopped licensing its music to TikTok at the end of January. Artists like Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish can no longer have their songs used on the platform, affecting millions of TikTok videos and stifling music discovery. Universal claims its artists deserve better compensation and protection from AI-driven harm while TikTok argues that the platforms role in artist development is unparalleled.

Technology was supposed to democratize the music industry, but my dissertation research demonstrates that there are less music professionals employed in 2022 than there were in 1999. Meanwhile, wage gains have disproportionately favored top earners, far from a democratization of opportunity. TikTok, despite its challenges, remains a beacon for musicians in the digital streaming landscape. However, both TikTok and record labels should prioritize the creators who sustain them. After all, the promise of platforms like TikTok lies in their ability to generate opportunities for artists, and the data shows that this has not materialized yet. Further pressures like this disagreement between a major music discovery platform and major record label further threaten artist livelihoods.