 A lot of people are aware that Universal Music Group has pulled their music from TikTok because they were violating artists. That was basically what they said, right? But nobody's been talking about just how much they've been violating artists. So I'm gonna break that down some information that I've been made privy to. But before I get to that, we gotta talk about the fact that TikTok is legitimately on the chopping block. This isn't the first time we've heard about TikTok potentially being banned, but this is the most likely chance that we've seen TikTok get banned. And they haven't made it any better for themselves in the midst of this propaganda campaign that they've been on. What do I mean by that? Well, if you're one of the people who have been affected by TikTok propaganda, you might know that TikTok notified all users that, hey, the US is trying to ban us. Yo, hit up your local congressman, call the government, and took people down a path where, in such as if code, show them the information and encourage them to call. All right, the government, or else when TikTok is banned, it's gonna impact so many small businesses, right? That's something that TikTok did. This made government officials irate who were affected by it, saying they turned off their phones because they got so many calls, flooded, and now they can't pay attention to more real issues, right? 50 to zero is the vote to push along the bill that would ultimately ban TikTok. 50 to zero. I mean, that's as unanimous as unanimous can get, the actual definition of unanimous. Now, what happens here? It's not TikTok is automatically banned if it finally gets to Joe Biden, and Joe Biden says, yes, he's gonna improve it because he also said, if this bill gets to me, I'm going to approve it. But this is what the bill basically says. TikTok is either banned or bite danced, their parent company, gets rid of all their shares, period. Now, I'm sure there's some more specifics, but that's the top line of it. You have bite dance, China owned company, yo, we gotta get rid of this. We don't want y'all involved at all. Now, what does this look like? Well, let's put that part on hold on if they will get banned and how that would affect things in general and get back to UMG and TikTok violating artists. So my stance has always been, yeah, TikTok probably could pay more. They probably should pay more just like Spotify could and should pay more, right? Probably obvious. But on the other hand, UMG being the leader in this puts a back taste in many artists' mouths just because of traditional relationship between record labels, et cetera, right? But no one's been putting out how much the violation is. So talking to a bunch of indie artists and other people, I was like, yo, what are some numbers, right? Help me understand just how bad this is because a lot of people believe, yo, well, yes, UMG is UMG, but they are in the right and this is for the best of artists. So this is what some of these numbers look like. Basically, if you were on Instagram Reels and got paid out, right, a million dollars, just to use a simple number, the equivalent that TikTok would pay out for a similar amount of activity would probably be somewhere between $50,000 to $100,000. All right, that's a huge difference. When we're talking about TikTok violating, all right, that's a huge gap. Again, I'm gonna say this, if Instagram pays you $1 million for the same amount of activity, TikTok will pay you $50,000 to $100,000. So I could see why UMG feels like they're being violated a little bit, right? Not a little bit, a lot of it, right? Now, with that being said, everybody doesn't have the exact same deal. This is why I used Arrange. But the important part to understand is this isn't just a universal music group issue. They are such a large entity, they set a precedent. Do they not? Yes, of course they do because they are the largest holder of music, essentially. Like single holder of music. So if they allow something to go, then of course we're gonna violate everybody else because UMG said it was okay, all right? Or at least we're gonna try really, really hard, let alone getting down to the indie artists. So that's the overall issue of why artists should be taking a stand on the same side as UMG. I'm not saying you should be supporting UMG directly. All right, that's one side of it, but you should realize this does impact artists in general. Now, the other side of this is there's actually been more people that are like, eh, we're about to pull out potentially. So for instance, the National Music Publishers Association, a trade body representing US publishers and songwriters, said this week that it does not expect to continue its current licensing agreement with the social media platform, TikTok. Billboard reported, National Music Publishers Association members includes Sony Music and Warner Chapel, part of Warner Music Group, whose combined catalogs feature people like Beyonce, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. All right, now, here's the thing though. Weirdly enough, Warner Music's CEO said, eh, we're good with our deal, all right? So the publishing side is different than the label side. They're like, our deal is pretty fair. We're not too mad at it, which I'll get back to. All right, they're coming out and not necessarily hopping off the roof on the side of UMG, which if UMG, Warner and Sony were all on the same page, we would definitely see some improvement, right? And we would definitely see an interesting moment in time, but that might actually be a tricky position from a legal side. I don't know how that plays out if they all are on the same side and it's obvious that they're pushing for the same thing. I'm not a lawyer, but I know that agreeing and colluding could be a fine line, depending on how things work out and timing and everything. So this is where we get back to the fact that TikTok is in a worse position than they ever have been in the U.S. Not only do you get a 50 to zero vote within Congress, but also on top of that, you have UMG, a huge entity that probably could be on your side if you were in good graces with them and now you don't have them in terms of lobbying. Yes, you still have Warner, et cetera. However, it's not just the music industry we're talking about here. So one, if UMG is getting petty, do they not support you at all? Do they even encourage the U.S. somehow to say, hey, look, we aren't gonna be upset. We're not gonna use any of our persuasion and lobbying on TikTok's behalf. And then do you think Amazon wants TikTok to be popping? With TikTok Shop and the threat that that is to Amazon Shopping Experience? Nah, probably not the biggest fan of it. Do you think Facebook wants TikTok to continue to dominate in the way that they have? No, not particularly so. So they're not necessarily in support of it. It'll be really hard for TikTok to continue along with the level of cockiness that they have in the past. Cause they got real cocky back in 2020. They did their agreements. They made some changes. However, they had so many of the youth on their side that they were a newer platform, but now it's been so long and this effort has continued. When they decided to do something like, yo, we're gonna tell everybody that, the government's about to ban us even though it's not technically correct. And then actually mobilize its users. That could work in your favor, but that also can work against you. When UMG says y'all are violating and then they come out and say, I can't believe that UMG did this. It's so unfortunate that they don't care about their artists, right? They're starting to be a little bit of a cockiness in the way that TikTok is moving. And that's gonna affect a lot of things. And at the end of the day, right now, indie artists are pretty much in position to just go wherever the industry goes. So here's the reality that the indies should keep in mind. At the end of the day, what happens if UMG does a deal with TikTok? Think about it. UMG isn't standing up for all artists. They're really standing up for their business, which includes their artists. So you could be cold out here for all of us, but in the minute they get some heat, they might go on back in the house and say, sorry, we got our deal. And the rest of the people out here, the indies, et cetera, probably will be in a position fending for themselves. However, the reality still is, no matter what, if they did a deal that was more favorable than what they currently have, which is what they're working for, it's still gonna be better for any artists indirectly and any other artists in the industry indirectly just because they are fighting for a better deal and it would be horrible if they did something low-balled and set a precedent as such a massive institution within the music industry. So it's one of those things, like I said, the best position for your interest, long game is still to be on the same side as UMG in this particular instance. Now, what happens if TikTok is completely gone? Guess what guys, Instagram Reels, they're in a really good space. It took a while, but they're for real here in a good space for a lot of artists. For a while, there were some artists who were having success going viral and they were having their moments, right? And it was like, all right, y'all are too early saying that Instagram Reels is better than TikTok just because you had a viral video over here but you're struggling on TikTok. No, that's not how it works. Before I advise, it has to be more on the industry as a whole or something that can effectively, if I'm talking on a video, generally positively affect multiple artists versus these one-offs. TikTok, I mean, Instagram is in that space. Go ahead and get over there and take Reels seriously and it still has way more than TikTok in that instance. Now, is Instagram still as good as TikTok ultimately in terms of affecting your merch and in terms of affecting your streams as strongly when you're at the peak of everything? Not quite. It's not, but it is very, very, very, very good as a substitute. It's like having Uber and then you got Uber Eats and all this other stuff, but then you got Lyft. Lyft will get you where you need to go. They don't have Lyft Eats, all right? They don't have these other things. However, Lyft will still get you there. IG Reels can get you there. So whether TikTok gets banned or not, take it seriously. If TikTok doesn't get banned, but UMG remains off of TikTok, that alone would be a very interesting place for music to be because things are already super fragmented, but for people to start being fragmented in their social media channel approach where it becomes similar like, hey, this is Disney Plus and all the Disney stuff is here. This is Paramount Plus and all the Paramount stuff and the Netflix originals over here for the music to start to be like that on social media platforms, that would be a very interesting place for things to go down the line. And I don't know quite how we would handle that, but you as an indie, it doesn't matter. You mind your own business. So take advantage of the platforms as you will. Do know that TikTok not being here, it shouldn't be the end of all. However, it is a great platform for artists to market themselves to garner audiences that will truly spend, which is why there have been some UMG artists that have expressed some disfavor in the idea that their music was taken off because they saw what was happening on TikTok for their campaigns and it got pulled off literally in the middle of it. So I would love to know what you think of all this. Have you been staying away from TikTok altogether? Have you been planning against TikTok or are you hoping that it lives on? Are you one of the artists that are like, I hope that UMG stays off and now is less competitive for me. So I'm gonna go hard on TikTok. Where is your mind? I would love to know. This is yet another Saturday video, subscribe to the vibe. 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