TikTok’s Dispute With Universal Music Proves Songwriters Are Still on an Uneven Playing Field: Guest Column
David Israelite is the president & CEO of the National Music Publishers’ Association, the trade association representing American music publishers and their songwriting partners. Variety welcomes responsible commentary, please send ideas to music@variety.com.
Songwriters have always struggled to be treated fairly. Throughout the history of the music industry, the rights of those who compose the lyrics and melodies are often treated with less respect than the rights of the more famous recording artists who bring their songs to life. Never has this been truer than in the current dispute between TikTok and Universal Music Group.
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For anyone not familiar with the state of affairs, UMG’s record labels pulled the rights to their sound recordings off of TikTok after the parties were unable to come to an agreement. Because Universal Music Publishing Group — Universal’s publishing company — was also unable to come to an agreement, the rights to the songs they owned and controlled were also pulled (but at a later date due to a difference in the contractual periods).
When the Universal Music artists and sound recordings came down, there was no shortage of opinion about the merits of such an action or the impact it would have … on artists. In the flood of discussion, there was little mention of the impact the removal of Universal sound recordings would have on the songwriters who wrote those songs and were not a part of the Universal Music family.
A month later, Universal Music Publishing followed suit with the removal of the songs written by Universal songwriters. All of a sudden, there was a great amount of discussion about what removing the UMPG songs would mean for recording artists on non-Universal record labels.
TikTok itself put out a statement when it began to remove all songs written (or co-written) by songwriters signed to UMPG, stating UMPG’s actions “not only affect the songwriters and artists that they represent, but now also impact many artists and songwriters not signed to Universal.” Multiple press outlets joined the chorus by reporting on those artists from other labels who would be impacted by the removal of UMPG’s songs, instead of focusing on the important reasons why UMPG was removing its songs from TikTok.
Present in this discussion — or lack of discussion — is the clear bias that somehow the rights of the songwriters do not carry equal weight to the rights of well-known recording artists. I’ve seen that bias frequently over my 20 years representing music publishers and their songwriter partners. It is wrong, and it needs to be called out.
First, it is important to point out that the copyright of the song carries equal weight to the copyright from the sound recording. In the eyes of the law, one is not more valuable or important than the other. When a copyright is infringed, the statutory damages available under the law are the same whether it is a composition copyright or a sound recording copyright. It is also true that the rights for takedowns and for the requirement of a repeat infringer policy under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act are also the same.
Second, in addition to the law giving equal weight to the two, the free market has also historically valued the two different interests equally. When a movie, TV show or commercial wants to use music, there is a free market negotiation with both the music publisher who controls the song and the record label who controls the sound recording. In those free market negotiations, the value is always equivalent.
Finally, when it comes to the creative process of making music, songwriting cannot be undervalued. For any recording artists who is upset that a songwriter’s fight to be fairly compensated might keep their recordings off a particular platform, step back and remember how important those songs are to your success. There is a reason why many of the most popular and iconic songs were written by professional songwriters.
Songwriters need artists to bring their songs to life. But successful artists need great songs too. They are two equal sides of the creative coin. One should not be raised above the other.
In the ongoing coverage and analysis of TikTok vs. Universal — where UMG and UMPG have every right to stand up for the value of their artists and songwriter’s work — I hope we hear more discussion of the impact on songwriters, and not just the artists affected. The industry only works when both are recognized and respected.
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