From January to June 2023, TikTok received over 189,000 copyright removal requests, which resulted in the successful removal of 60% of those videos (i.e., 113,000 videos). While TikTok requires users to submit requests to have copyright infringing content removed, YouTube offers a range of automated tools that proactively limit copyright infringement on its platform. The most responsive of its automated systems, “Content ID,” resulted in over 826 million unique claims in the second half of 2022.
Some argue that YouTube’s approach to copyright infringement is overbroad, and effectively “discourages fair use.” However, some rights-holders laud YouTube’s approach, particularly as it allows rights holders to monetize this copyright-infringing content.
This Friday, we will present on Tik Tok, uncovering key copyright issues it is facing. Specifically, we will discuss how TikTok’s approach to flagging copyright infringing content differs from YouTube, and how their differing approaches impact fair dealing. Additionally, we will dive into TikTok’s current licensing dispute with Universal Music Group, and the issues surrounding this, which include appropriate compensation for their artists and songwriters; protecting human artists from the harmful effects of AI, and; online safety for TikTok users.
In advance, here are two articles that can give context to our discussion:
https://www.billboard.com/pro/universal-music-tiktok-feud-what-it-means-music-industry/
Looking forward to presenting on Friday!
Selasie, Maren, Selina, Gabby, Noah, and Emmanuel
For our presentation, we used some information from TikTok’s 2023 “Music Impact Report,” which I thought I would share here in case anyone is interested. While we discussed how TikTok and UMG are essentially accusing one another of underpaying artists, it’s interesting to see how TikTok positions itself in this report as playing a positive (almost crucial) role in supporting artists. Unlike Spotify, which has been widely criticized for underpaying artists and now openly advertises how much it pays the music industry, TikTok is continuing to avoid the difficult conversation around compensation, pointing to correlations between app engagement and music usage in this report to praise itself (and distract from the reality that we have no clue what artists actually stand to gain from the app). With that said, engagement off TikTok is certainly important, particularly as we discussed how artists make most of their money from tours, merch and other avenues beyond consumption of their music.
Here’s the link to the report: https://sf16-sg.tiktokcdn.com/obj/eden-sg/fuuvieh7uvzpsh/TikTok-Luminate-Report-2023.pdf