On Tuesday, the US Senate passed a bill that would force TikTok's China-based parent company to sell the popular app or be blocked in the US.
While the legislation would have profound impacts on the worlds of technology, politics, entertainment, media and marketing, music could be especially affected. TikTok's first incarnation was a lip-syncing app, Musical.ly, and the app dominates music discovery for young listeners. If the app were banned in the United States, it would alter the way artists communicate with their fans, how old songs get new life (and big publishing deals), and how 170 million American users discover new music.
Earlier this month, The Times published a detailed look at TikTok's future in the music industry. Here are some of the ways Tuesday's news could affect you.
Who voted for this bill and how would it affect TikTok?
The Senate bill gives TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, nine months to sell TikTok, with a possible three-month extension if the sale is imminent. The bill also prevents the company from controlling TikTok's algorithm, its incredibly engaging recommendation engine for new videos. The bill, passed 79-18, is part of a $95 billion package that also provides aid to Ukraine and Israel. The House of Representatives already passed similar legislation last week, citing concerns about data security and foreign influence. President Biden said he will sign it on Wednesday.
“Congress is not acting to punish ByteDance, TikTok or any other individual company,” Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, said in remarks on the Senate floor this week. “Congress is acting to prevent foreign adversaries from conducting espionage, surveillance, smear operations, and harm to vulnerable Americans, our servicemen and women, and our U.S. government personnel.”
How has TikTok responded?
ByteDance has said it is not willing to sell TikTok to comply with this legislation and would instead seek to block the law in court.
“This unconstitutional law is a ban on TikTok and we will challenge it in court,” TikTok said in a statement. “We believe the facts and the law are clearly on our side and we will ultimately prevail.”
That strategy has been successful in some cases: In November, a federal judge blocked a Montana law that would have banned TikTok in the state.
Isimeme Udu, the singer who performs as Hemlocke Springs.
(Ana Peralta Chong)
What does it mean for the music industry?
Many artists are already under a de facto ban from TikTok. Universal Music Group, the country's largest record label conglomerate, has already removed its catalog from the service.
In a January open letter, UMG said that “TikTok proposed paying our artists and songwriters a fee that is a fraction of the fee paid by major social platforms in similar situations…Ultimately, TikTok is trying to build a business based on music, without paying fairly. Value for music. “TikTok’s tactics are obvious: using the power of its platform to harm vulnerable artists and trying to bully us into accepting a bad deal that undervalues music and defrauds artists and songwriters, as well as their fans.”
A source familiar with UMG's strategy for TikTok said the removal of its catalog has not noticeably affected streaming numbers on other platforms, citing a recent Luminate study that found only a 1.8% drop in market share. of UMG in on-demand audio streaming (from 38.72% to 38.02%, which they said was within the normal range of the release schedule) in the eight weeks following UMG's withdrawal. UMG's deal with TikTok was responsible for about 1% of its annual revenue.
Some label executives are happy to see the app humiliated. Sarah Flanagan, former senior director of digital marketing at Columbia Records (not part of UMG), said that “TikTok has not found a way to compensate artists or labels fairly for the amount of music that is used. As good as it has been for music discovery, I hope this works, because TikTok's system for compensating artists is either not good enough or they don't care enough.”
However, the main complaint from labels and publishers is that the service does not pay enough for the rights to their catalogues. They would probably prefer to have a world where TikTok exists for marketing, but pays more like Spotify or YouTube. Virality can reap big rewards: In 2020, months after Fleetwood Mac's classic single “Dreams” took off on TikTok, Stevie Nicks sold most of her publishing catalog for $100 million.
Members of the rock group Fleetwood Mac celebrate their Grammy Award in Los Angeles on February 23, 1978. From left: Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie.
(Richard Drew/Associated Press)
How do artists feel about it?
Many artists rely on TikTok to reach their fan bases and would lose an important creative and marketing tool.
“TikTok is a huge and useful platform for most artists; it works very well,” said Imogene Strauss, a creative director working on the release of Charli XCX's “Brat” album. “We are in the middle of a big album campaign now, it would be devastating to our plan if a ban or licensing dispute happened. It's a good promotion and it sucks for those who are no longer here. But artists should be paid too. “I’m not saying TikTok is fundamentally good, but the only ones who suffer here are the artists.”
“It's a little heartbreaking,” said Maddie Zahm, a singer-songwriter who made a breakthrough on TikTok with her song “Fat Funny Friend.” “I'm friends with people who have worked really hard to write songs and since TikTok runs the music industry, it sucks to tell them they can't participate. “I hoped that one day there would be something new, but I didn’t expect this limbo.”
Others are quietly relieved to not have to constantly work for an app with diminishing returns per exposure.
“It's strange to say, 'I wrote this powerful, vulnerable thing, and now I have to package it and express emotions by sitting in my car and crying for people to see and hear,'” singer Zolita said. “It's really interesting what you have to do to get people to pay attention there. “It’s hard to stay sane when it’s a numbers game and be at the mercy of this platform when promoting art.”
Doja Cat headlines the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on April 14 in Indio.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
How will artists connect with fans if TikTok is banned?
“Artists should have forgotten that a platform is their primary vehicle,” said Columbia's Flanagan. “I've met people with massive audiences on Instagram and all of a sudden they change their algorithm and you can't reach your followers. You want to make sure you have email, text, Discord, Substack, all of that. Trends change so quickly that you need to be able to transfer your superfans to other platforms.”
Young audience participation may already be declining. In a Wall Street Journal report, mobile analytics firm Data.ai cited a 9% decline in average monthly U.S. users on TikTok since 18-24 between 2022-2023
Others are focusing on more old-fashioned ways of connecting with audiences.
“I feel like the tour is going to be something even bigger,” said artist Hemlocke Springs, who is opening Doja Cat's European tour. “I'm going to go to these Doja shows assuming no one knows me, and the more I lean on that, but lights a fire under me.
