Following a public disagreement between Universal Music Group (UMG) and TikTok, which led to UMG withdrawing its entire music catalog from the platform earlier this year, UMG is now strengthening its partnership with Spotify. UMG announced on Thursday an expansion of its strategic alliance with the streaming service, emphasizing “music discovery and social interaction” and enhanced fan experiences. The addition of music videos is a key feature within this new agreement in the U.S.
Spotify had recently revealed intentions to introduce support for music videos and had initiated beta testing in 11 selected markets back in March, excluding the U.S at the time. The feature was initially rolled out in Brazil, Colombia, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, the Netherlands, Poland, the Philippines, Sweden, and the U.K.
With the new UMG deal, users in the U.S. will now have the opportunity to watch music videos in addition to streaming audio content. However, the specific portion of UMG’s catalog available as videos and the list of high-profile artists are yet to be disclosed.
Notably, Universal Music Publishing Group boasts a rich roster of artists such as Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande, Bad Bunny, The Weeknd, SZA, Drake, Harry Styles, Kendrick Lamar, Adele, and others. This extensive catalog of 4 million songs was also removed from TikTok following an unsuccessful renewal of the agreement with UMG, as reported by Hypebeast.
To watch videos on Spotify, users can select the “Switch to Video” option from the app’s Now Playing Screen. Additionally, rotating the phone to landscape mode enlarges the video for a full-screen viewing experience.
As part of the enhanced collaboration, Spotify will introduce new promotional and social features to assist artists in building excitement around their new releases. UMG artists will have the ability to share upcoming song teasers, and users can pre-save music prior to its release.
UMG mentioned that additional feature collaborations will be explored over time, with more details to follow, stated in an announcement.
Spotify’s founder and CEO, Daniel Ek, praised UMG as a forward-thinking partner dedicated to their artists and songwriters, contributing to product development by adopting experimental tools early on to help artists distinguish themselves. Ek anticipates that the forthcoming features will empower artists and their teams to express themselves authentically, promote their work efficiently, and enhance their artistic monetization.
The timing of this agreement is significant given the ongoing TikTok controversy. With uncertainties surrounding a potential U.S. ban and disagreements over music use, TikTok and UMG failed to reach a compromise. Consequently, TikTok had to remove 3 million songs owned or distributed by UMG by January 31, 2024, followed by additional removals of songs containing compositions controlled by UMG.
By teaming up with Spotify, UMG can continue promoting its music to fans, even if its artists encounter limitations on TikTok. While the absence of UMG’s music would have previously had a more significant impact on TikTok, the app has transitioned towards long-form content and vlogs, alongside its controversial e-commerce initiatives, potentially mitigating the repercussions of the music removal.
