Your favorite worship artist could also be raising fewer hallelujahs on TikTok now that the world’s largest music company is pulling its entire catalog from the app on account of a licensing dispute.
Last week, Universal Music Group (UMC) said it might “stop licensing content” to TikTok and started removing songs and recordings, including Christian worship hits released through Capitol Christian Music Group (CCMG).
The UMG-owned Christian record label has signed and bought the catalogs of a few of today’s most influential Christian musicians: Hillsong, Kari Jobe, Passion, Amy Grant, Anne Wilson, Brooke Ligertwood, Chris Tomlin, Crowder, Mac Powell, Tauren Wells, TobyMac, and We the Kingdom. As CT reported last 12 months, CCMG has claimed to have a 60 percent market share of the highest 10 worship songs utilized in churches.
So together with removing audio from Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour performances, most of Hillsong UNITED’s TikTok profile now has no audio. Several of Chris Tomlin’s videos were muted over the weekend. The removal process takes time and should affect recent uploads greater than existing video content. The story continues to be developing, so it stays to be seen how comprehensive UMG’s enforcement shall be.
Because TikTok’s algorithm pushes videos with trending audio tracks, lots of today’s artists need to see their music go viral on the app; it’s a significant platform for exposure to a young, global audience. The move has brought uncertainty to Christian and mainstream musicians alike.
How will this variation on TikTok affect the Christian music industry?
As Christian music becomes increasingly enmeshed with the mainstream music industry, artists within the area of interest will find that their songs, while created to serve the church, are also a part of a large collection of assets and bargaining chips that come into play during these corporate negotiations.
Music by artists signed to UMG labels and imprints shall be faraway from TikTok in the approaching weeks unless the parties find yourself eventually reaching an agreement. This includes music by CCMG artists in addition to other labels under its umbrella, including Motown Gospel, Re:Think, Sparrow Records, and Hillsong Music.
UMG-affiliated artists who try to market recent music can have to place together a social strategy that doesn’t include TikTok. For artists with a considerable following on the platform—Hillsong Worship has over 440,000 followers, for instance, and Kari Jobe, 161,400—that limitation shall be frustrating, because their very own label will prevent them from posting their music.
Wait. Why would UMG need to limit an artist’s ability to advertise their very own music?
“UMG’s answer to artists is, We’re attempting to get you paid more cash,” said music marketer Drew Small, who has worked for Bethel, Tooth & Nail Records, and CCMG, and now runs an independent music marketing agency in Nashville.
In its statement on January 30, UMG expressed commitment to its artists and their work: “We will all the time fight for our artists and songwriters and rise up for the creative and business value of music.”
According to UMG, TikTok desires to get away with paying artists a fraction of the worth of their work. TikTok’s response accused UMG of putting “their very own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters.” But within the near term, this move hurts artists who try to get their music on the market and reach recent fans.
How vital is TikTok to CCM and contemporary worship artists?
In Small’s view, TikTok has not turn into a consistently powerful promotional tool for Christian artists.
“I don’t see a number of Christian artists doing successful marketing on Tiktok,” said Small. “Part of the allure of Tiktok is to very affordably drive numbers, giving the perception of success. You can get a number of traffic for little or no money.”
But a technique built on virality doesn’t work for a lot of artists; it’s not all the time an efficient method to find fans who need to hearken to recent music and support a musician’s profession. Certain Christian artists like Maverick City Music, JWLKRS, Forrest Frank, Hulvey, and Elevation Worship have been capable of create wide-reaching content on the platform, but those artists are notable exceptions.
While TikTok isn’t a key marketing tool for many Christian artists, UMG’s ability to remove their music from the platform can feel like a violation, although the corporate has the legal right to accomplish that. For artists with minimal administrative and distribution agreements with UMG and its subsidiaries, UMG has control over the usage of their songs and recordings, although the entity could have had almost no involvement within the artist’s profession.
For a few of these artists, the move feels unfair and extreme since it includes UMG’s entire publishing catalog—over 4 million songs. UMG isn’t just removing master recordings, it’s removing the songs themselves, the compositions. This implies that any version of a song in UMG’s catalog, including live versions and covers, could be removed. That includes songs of which UMG controls only a small percentage of rights.
What if I/my church posted a canopy of a worship song owned by UMG on TikTok?
It could be muted or removed.
“This goes to affect anyone doing a canopy of a UMG-affiliated worship song,” said Small. “No one is getting sued over it, but a number of people who find themselves just posting for fun are going to see their videos muted or taken down.”
Even small accounts for private use aren’t exempt, and content that may otherwise fly under the radar could also be detected and removed.
Small said that UMG’s recognition software is impressive and can likely catch videos with UMG-owned songs. Even if a creator doesn’t mention the name of the song within the caption or post the lyrics, the automated program can still recognize the tune and structure.
In some cases, said Small, cover videos will simply be muted—the visual will remain posted with no audio. In others, accounts could get multiple “strikes” for content violation and eventually be flagged or suspended.
TikTok is one place where Christians can post their very own covers of worship songs and watch videos posted by other amateurs and church musicians. It’s also a platform where worship leaders and industry professionals post ministry-related comedy, share tutorials, offer commentary, and even commiserate over the challenges of the role.
Several videos posted by the favored account “WorshipLeaderProbs” have had the sound removed. A meme with Steve Carell as Michael Scott dancing to a now-unknown Cody Carnes song doesn’t quite land. On Carnes’s TikTok page, the sound has been faraway from several videos of the artist performing hit songs like “Firm Foundation” and “Bless God.”
Are there any ways this dispute is uniquely relevant for Christian musicians?
Increased investment in Christian music from the mainstream industry has increased the profile of many Christian musicians globally. The removal of popular CCM and worship music from TikTok is an example of how the industry’s investment and involvement within the area of interest comes with certain conditions. And that is true for any musician who pursues a contract with a label group like UMG.
The relationship between ministry and business within the Christian music industry is complicated. Worship artists who create music intended to serve the church may suddenly find that their offerings are also getting used as bargaining chips and investment opportunities. In some cases, these are artists who signed with small labels that were acquired by UMG long after they began writing music.
“CCMG is becoming a monopoly,” said Small. “Having them withdraw from TikTok is a bonus to each artist on every other label.”
Small can be hopeful that this episode might encourage artists to reconsider the worth of making music that’s tailored to platforms like TikTok, which incentivizes artists to create music with short, attention-grabbing hooks and meme-able sound bites. “This is an incentive to create good content, good art, that doesn’t feel like an ad.”
Kelsey Kramer McGinnis is CT’s worship music correspondent. For more about Universal Music Group’s TikTok licensing move, try reporting by Vulture, Rolling Stone, and Music Business Worldwide.
