🔵 United we stand, right Taylor? Taylor?!?

What the return of Taylor Swift's music to TikTok tells us about the music industry and culture in 2024

I’d argue everyone is now aware of Universal’s fight with TikTok that has seen the world’s largest record company pull not just its own recorded music, but that of its publishing company and all other labels it distributes from the platform.

The whole fight is one of those rare moments that unites everyone, bringing to mind those times of war when opposing political sides tend to unite under the common foreign enemy. So it has been the case here, with indies and pretty much everyone else coming out in support of Universal’s move. Universal’s stance is unquestionably self-serving, but for now, it works for everyone to back the company up on this one.

Why? Because TikTok’s offers amount to an even greater devaluation of music as an art form. Furthermore, there’s plenty of evidence that TikTok is lining up (and has already launched) a host of AI tools to enable the easy creation of music, all of which would then compete with ‘proper’ music on the platform.

None of it looks great for the extant music industry.

Eyebrows will doubtless be raising this morning then at the news that Taylor Swift’s music is now returning to TikTok - a move that, certainly here in the UK if not elsewhere, might legitimately provoke screams of “SCAB!” from anyone backing Universal’s walkout.

Why is her music back on TikTok? Well, in one of the more savvy deals of recent times, TS has ensured that she owns the copyrights to her work, and therefore she controls what happens to them, not Universal - and clearly, she has made the decision to reinstate her music on the platform.

The motivation is of course that a new album, The Tortured Poets Department, is coming, and clearly a decision has been made that it is better to have people sharing this music on TikTok than not.

Doubtless much is going to be made of Taylor’s breaking the picket line to reinstate her work. However to me, this is merely another reflection of the "mega/microculture” in full effect.

Here’s the thing: for an artist like Taylor Swift, money was never a central issue when it came to TikTok. It is merely another tool for brand reach and enforcement. As the most mega of megastars, TikTok’s contribution was always so small as to be insignificant to the revenues of Ms Swift. The cultural clout it delivers is huge though - and returning to the platform in a blaze of glory further cements her status and ensures tons of brand goodwill. Jumping the gun on all the other holdouts is quite a win - even if it might, to some anyway, feel rather like a stab in the back.

Ironically, I’d argue TikTok for Taylor Swift is much like Spotify for the working class artist, in that arguments about the money earned from the platform are almost moot. The overall contribution of both is so pathetically tiny that it is simply not worth worrying about. Again, this demonstrates the mega/microculture theory: Taylor is too big to need to fuss over the paltry contrubutions from TikTok, and working class artists just can’t see the point in worrying about that £3.50 payout they’re getting from Spotify, on the basis it can’t even buy them a coffee.

In much the same way as I hate what Universal does but simultaneously have to admire its strategies, so the same goes to Taylor Swift here. Ultimately, it isn’t her job to represent all the other artists; she’s looking at #1 (in all senses) and owes no one an explanation.

Perhaps one discussion point to come will be the degree to which Taylor Swift now has Universal wrapped around her little finger. As an artist, she arguably has more power than any other before her. Thinking aloud, I do wonder if Universal for one looks at that power and wonders how it can ensure no artist ever achieves that kind of status again, given the threats it can pose. After all, if Taylor went independent, or pulled her music from DSPs, the optics on it would be dreadful for a major label (assuming said “indie” wasn’t still running through The Orchard, AWAL, ADA or any other major property that basically still amounts to a win for the Big Three).

Who knows. For now though, this all feels like further reinforcement of the mega/microculture in full effect. It’s all a great win for Taylor Swift. For everyone else - ironically, Universal included - it is something of a slap in the face. An apt description might be that Taylor is doing to the old white men running music what they have been doing to women since the music industry started…. which makes for a quick joke maybe, except in both cases it isn’t remotely funny.

Really this is the latest development in a battle in which the value of music and the health of culture itself continues a terminal decline. Something desperately needs to change.

Have a great weekend,

D.

🚨 We are hiring again! Details at the bottom, or click here to go straight to our Jobs page on the Motive Unknown website. 🚨

🎶 listening to “Funhouse” by The Stooges. Every now and then I need that shock of raw, primal rock, and it doesn’t get any better on that front than this most legendary of albums.

🎭 watching (last night anyway) “Nye” at the National Theatre here in London. The life story of Aneurin ‘Nye’ Bevan, the founder of the NHS, and (as a man of 50% Welsh stock) undoubtedly therefore the Greatest Ever Welshman. Stirring, moving stuff, and 100% worth seeing, not least because anything with Michael Sheen in it is guaranteed to be fantastic.

📺 watching “David Pajo - What's In My Bag?” on YouTube. David Pajo is an all-time hero of mine. The guy has played in pretty much any great band you care to name (Slint, Tortoise, Stereolab, Gang of Four… the list is bananas) and he always comes across as one of the nicest guys out there. This makes for a wonderful watch.

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Stories from the Music Industry:

Taylor Swift: Artist's music back on TikTok after dispute

While many of her songs - including You Belong With Me and Cruel Summer - are again available for users to add to their videos, music belonging to Universal's other artists has still not been relisted. That may be because unlike other artists, Swift owns the copyright to her music under the terms of a 2018 deal with Universal. Some reports speculated Swift reached a separate deal with TikTok.

👆🏻Hot take: see commentary above.

UK's CMS committee makes latest 'creator remuneration' recommendations

The committee has published a report on ‘Creator Remuneration‘ that includes some more recommendations on how musicians can be better recompensated in the streaming age. Those include suggesting that the UK introduce a ‘private copying scheme’ – a levy on ‘blank media and/or electronic devices’ akin to those in Germany, France and Italy. The committee also wants the government to “ensure that creators have proper mechanisms to enforce their consent and receive fair compensation for use of their work by AI developers” – and is unhappy at the lack of legislation so far to do this.

👆🏻Hot take: I really don’t feel the private copying scheme is grasping the bull by the horns here (how many blank CDs even sell these days??) but what’s also interesting is the friction between rights holders and the music makers.

AIM CEO Silvia Montello steps down; COO Gee Davy takes interim charge

UK independent labels body AIM has a new CEO, after announcing that its boss Silvia Montello has resigned for personal reasons. Montello joined AIM as CEO at the start of 2023, replacing its previous chief Paul Pacifico. AIM’s COO Gee Davy is stepping up to be interim CEO for a second time, and will also be taking on the role of chief policy officer at AIM.

👆🏻Hot take: “personal reasons” with no statement from Montello herself is a tactic as old as time to paper over something. Sorry AIM, I’m not buying it.

Superfan app EVEN launches with 10,000 artists onboarded; in-app sales to count towards Billboard charts

On EVEN, fans buy music directly from artists under a tiered “pay what you want” model, where the tiers are set by the artist. Fans can get access to exclusive content such as first listens, meet-and-greets and listening parties, as well as access to exclusive merch and “bespoke visual content,” the company says. To date, EVEN has onboarded some 10,000 artists, including established names such as French Montana, Omarion, Hit-Boy, Lauren Jauregui, and Jidenna, as well as “exciting upstarts” like LaRussell, Buddy, Destin Conrad, LaNelle Grant, and others.

👆🏻Hot take: good to see. Really keen to try this out and see how it shapes up.

Spotify plans to let subscribers speed up songs – and pay rightsholders when those modified tracks are streamed

In a bid to compete with the popularity of such modified audio on TikTok, Spotify is reportedly working on a feature that could let its users create sped-up or slowed-down versions of songs. That’s according to the Wall Street Journal, which, citing sources, reported today (April 11) that Spotify hopes the plan will “appeal to young users, while generating new revenue for artists”.

👆🏻Hot take: this misunderstands why users speed up songs for TikTok completely. It was (is?) unique to TikTok for a good reason. Simply allowing users to speed up songs completely missed the point IMO.

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Notable stories from the world of tech:

Humane AI Pin review: the post-smartphone future isn’t here yet

It’s a beta test, a prototype, a proof of concept that maybe someday there might be a killer device that does all of these things. I know with absolute certainty that the AI Pin is not that device. It’s not worth $700, or $24 a month, or all the time and energy and frustration that using it requires. It’s an exciting idea and an infuriating product.

👆🏻Hot take: a gentle reminder perhaps that the AI dream as pitched is perhaps not translating into reality just yet.

Facebook and Instagram to label digitally altered content ‘made with AI’

The social media giant will start applying “Made with AI” labels in May to AI-generated videos, images and audio posted on Facebook and Instagram, expanding a policy that previously addressed only a narrow slice of doctored videos, the vice-president of content policy, Monika Bickert, said in a blogpost

👆🏻Hot take: this reads well and makes for a good headline etc, but the proof is in the pudding, and for some reason I am sceptical this will work with 100% efficacy.

DALL-E now lets you edit images in ChatGPT

OpenAI’s DALL-E is getting a couple of upgrades today that help you shape your AI-generated masterpieces. First, you’ll now find image editing tools when using DALL-E within ChatGPT, both on the web and on mobile. Second, DALL-E now offers preset style suggestions to help inspire image creation

👆🏻Hot take: I’ve yet to try this but I’m interested to see if it might combine ‘sensible’ user interface additions rather than the prompt front-end which at points feels horrifically awkward.

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We are hiring (again!):

Motive Unknown continues to grow, and despite hiring four people since February began, we are now hunting for another Marketing Assistant, and - for the first time - another Marketing Manager.

In the Marketing Assistant role, the successful applicant will be responsible for working with our Marketing Managers to develop and execute effective marketing campaigns for our clients, leveraging various digital channels to promote their music and engage with their fan base.

In the Marketing Manager role, the main function will be to manage our client relationships and lead in the creation and execution of marketing initiatives for Motive Unknown’s clients, primarily focused on the recorded music space (i.e. labels, management companies, artists direct etc).

Interested, or know someone who might be? Full details are on the Jobs page of our site, along with the form to apply. Please do pass this along if you can. Many thanks! 🙏

(Please note: both roles are for UK-based applicants only)

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