Following Universal Music Group's (UMG) public spat with TikTok, which removed its entire catalog from its video app earlier this year, the company is doubling down on its deal with Spotify. On Thursday, UMG announced it is expanding its strategic relationship with streaming music services to focus on “music discovery and social interaction” and enhancing the fan experience. These new features in the US include the addition of music videos;
Spotify recently announced plans to support music videos, announcing it would be testing the option in beta in 11 select markets in March. At the time, the feature did not include the United States, but instead included Brazil, Colombia, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, the Netherlands, Poland, the Philippines, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, according to the company.
The deal with UMG will give US users the option to not only stream audio but also watch music videos. The companies did not reveal what portions of UMG's catalog would be available as videos or the names of the specific big-name artists whose videos would be included.
However, Universal Music Publishing Group is home to many popular artists, including Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande, Bad Bunny, The Weeknd, SZA, Drake, Harry Styles, Kendrick Lamar, and Adele. This catalog of 4 million songs was also removed from TikTok after UMG failed to renew its contract with the video app.
To watch videos, Spotify users can access a new “Switch to Video” option from the app's Now Playing screen. Additionally, you can rotate your phone to landscape mode to watch the video in full screen.
As part of the new deal, Spotify will introduce new promotional and social features to help artists generate excitement around new releases. For example, UMG artists will be able to share teasers of upcoming songs, and users will be able to pre-save music in advance of new releases.
UMG said in a statement that the two companies will explore other feature collaborations in the future, but further details are forthcoming.
“UMG has consistently been a progressive partner on behalf of artists and songwriters, contributing to the product development of experimental tools and being an early adopter of them to help artists stand out.” Founder and CEO Daniel Ek said in a statement. “Upcoming features will give artists and their teams more power to truly express themselves, promote their work efficiently, and better monetize their art.” he added.
Of course, the timing of this deal is notable given the drama surrounding TikTok. In addition to a possible ban in the US, the short-form video app and UMG were unable to reach an agreement regarding TikTok's use of UMG's music. As a result, TikTok had until January 31, 2024 to remove approximately 3 million songs owned or distributed by UMG. Later, even more songs under UMG's control, including songs written or co-written by UMG, also had to be removed. Songwriter signed to Universal Music Publishing Group.
By partnering with Spotify, even if artists lose the ability to promote themselves on TikTok, UMG still has a way to promote their music to fans. In previous years, the loss of UMG's music would have been a bigger blow to TikTok, but the app's transition from lip-syncing and dance videos to more vlogs and long-form content means And given the controversial e-commerce push, not to mention the impact, the impact may not be as severe.