Universal Music Group reaches agreement with Meta to license Taylor Swift, more artists on WhatsApp

Pop stars including Taylor Swift, Adele, Billie Eilish and Elton John will soon have their music played and shared on WhatsApp.

Universal Music Group, the world’s largest multinational music group representing the globe’s top recording artists, on Monday reached a multi-year licensing agreement with Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Platforms.

The deal is an expansion of a previous deal from 2017, in which UMG licensed its music catalogs to Facebook and its sister platforms Messenger, Instagram and Oculus.

The updated deal includes short-form videos and licensed music that will appear on Meta-owned WhatsApp.

“The new agreement reflects the two companies’ shared commitment to protecting human creators and artistry, including ensuring that artists and songwriters are fairly compensated,” the companies said in a joint statement.

“UMG was the first major music company to license Facebook in 2017, and this new deal will further expand the opportunities for music within the meta ecosystem.”

Financial terms have not been disclosed.

The renewed deal will give UMG artists and songwriters a share of advertising revenue from the use of licensed music in Meta creators’ posts.

In late July, the music label said it had ended a partnership with Meta for streaming premium music videos. He said this type of product was less popular with Facebook’s user base than other music products.

The $54 billion group behind more than a third of the market had reached a new licensing deal with TikTok in May, restoring its songs and artists to the social media platform.

UMG’s songs were pulled from TikTok as a result of a month-long dispute between the two companies over royalty payments.

TikTok, which is owned by China-based company ByteDance, was accused by UMG of paying less for the rights to its music compared to fees paid by other platforms.

UMG also expressed concerns over TikTok’s policies as they relate to music created by artificial intelligence – which is seen as a potential threat to content created by human artists.

In negotiations between the two parties, UMG demanded that TikTok commit to stronger protections against AI-generated music being used on TikTok without proper licensing.

Last month, UMG shares fell more than 23% in a single day after weaker-than-expected streaming and subscription revenue for the second quarter disappointed investors.

By postal wire