TikTok and the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) have announced the signing of a multi-year agreement.
The deal covers TikTok’s past use of musical works and sets up a “forward-looking partnership”, according to a statement.
It marks a turnaround in relations between the short-form video platform and the NMPA, which last year called on Congress to investigate TikTok amid licensing concerns.
ICE and TikTok are currently in negotiations about an agreement.
TikTok and the NMPA, which represents American music publishers and their songwriting partners, developed the agreement to offer eligible members a new revenue stream. The partnership will give NMPA members the ability to opt-in to a licensing framework and is effective retroactively as of May 1, 2020.
Ole Obermann, global head of music at TikTok, said: "TikTok is proud to partner with music publishers and songwriters to enable artist and song discovery, and support revenue opportunities. We're excited to partner with the NMPA to bring their member companies on to the platform and help hundreds of millions of people discover and enjoy their songs. We look forward to continuing to work with songwriters to help them use TikTok as a powerful and innovative channel to reach a global audience through a unique format of creation and engagement.”
David Israelite, President & CEO, NMPA, said: “We are pleased to find a way forward with TikTok which benefits songwriters and publishers and offers them critical compensation for their work. Music is an important part of apps like TikTok which merge songs with expression and popularize new music while also giving new life to classic songs. This agreement respects the work of creators and gives them a way to be paid for their essential contributions to the platform.”
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