TikTok is officially saying, “Thank you for the music,” with their new music licensing deals.
As music is one of the most important features found within TikTok and now TikTok is close to making connections with many new music licensing deals, which are close to being announced.
This week TikTok has signed an agreement with Merlin, an agency that represents a variety of independent music labels and artists according to TechCrunch. In addition to the deal with Merlin, TikTok has also made similar deals with Sony Music, Warner Music and Universal Music; however, these three deals have not been officially announced.
This variety of agreements are important steps for TikTok as music is embedded into its core as it has become an important platform for new music trends and content creators, just as Vine was before TikTok.
The most successful TikTok story revolves around Lil Nas X’s hit song “Old Town Road”, which became viral and a hit through the app according to Social Media Today. As Tiktok users took charge and created their own remixes to the track, Lil Nas X was transported from the virtual unknown to a superstar status and that has created a rising interest from music executives.
However, within this field of music TikTok needs to develop itself even because there is a significant issue within the music industry. This issue evolves around the fact that music is available for free online and that its overall sales numbers are suffering and declining.
With these deals, publishers can impose royalties from the usage of music on digital platforms; aside from this fact, TikTok does not offer any way for its content creators to earn income through the use of the app. The issue that TikTok is facing is similar to the one that Vine suffered with as Twitter could not monetize Vine in any way possible. Which caused the content creators of Vine to migrate onto YouTube in order to earn an income from their content, according to Social Media Today.
TikTok may find itself stuck in the same struggle as Vine was in if it doesn’t find a way to move quickly with its deals. TikTok has found itself expanding its options with its reported Resso music app, which could possibly help solidify a clear flor of revenue for its top creators.
However, TikTok may find itself in trouble if it doesn’t find a way to provide such options as it will inevitably lead to the loss of the creators it’s currently trying to build up. On the other hand, TikTok has the audience and the attention of brands but all it has to do now is work out how it can share revenue with its top creators.
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