Muni Long is putting Universal Music Group on blast.
Just days after UMG announced it was removing its catalog from TikTok, Muni took to the social media platform to share her tongue-in-cheek response. The 12-second video shows Muniāwho is signed to UMG subsidiary Def Jamāstanding in her bedroom while providing sarcastic narration on the matter.
āUm, that song? Yāall know which one Iām talking about,ā she says while pretending to be the entertainment giant. āWrap it up by the weekend. I donāt want to have to say this again. Wrap it up.ā
The song in question was most likely āMade for Me,ā a slow-burning R&B track that went viral on social media. Billboard reports that the 2023 record was sitting at No. 2 on the relatively new TikTok Top 50 chart as of Wednesday, the same day UMG and TikTokās licensing deal expired.
35-year-old Muni shed more light on the situation in the captions: āI mean itās not like they are refusing to support my music until I prove that itās valuable by investing my own money and possibly lucking up on a hot TikTok trend or anything like that. Itās fine. Everythingās fine. ... My therapist not answering again šµāš«."
The post has racked up 1.4 million views in a day.
UMG confirmed it would pull all of its music from TikTok after the companies failed to reach a new agreement. The label acknowledged that TikTok is an effective tool for highlighting lesser-known artists, but said contract negotiations fell flat as they pressed TikTok on three main issues: āappropriate compensation for our artists and songwriters, protecting human artists from the harmful effects of AI, and online safety for TikTokās users.ā
āWith respect to the issue of artist and songwriter compensation, TikTok proposed paying our artists and songwriters at a rate that is a fraction of the rate that similarly situated major social platforms pay,ā UMG wrote in an open letter. āā¦ As our negotiations continued, TikTok attempted to bully us into accepting a deal worth less than the previous deal, far less than fair market value and not reflective of their exponential growth. How did it try to intimidate us? By selectively removing the music of certain of our developing artists, while keeping on the platform our audience-driving global stars.ā
UMGās talent roster includes some of the biggest names in music, such as Drake, Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny, The Weeknd, SZA, Kendrick Lamar, Ariana Grande, and Billie Eilish.
TikTok called the development āsad and disappointing,ā and accused UMG of distorting the truth.
āDespite Universal's false narrative and rhetoric, the fact is they have chosen to walk away from the powerful support of a platform with well over a billion users that serves as a free promotional and discovery vehicle for their talent,ā the company wrote in a statement. āTikTok has been able to reach āartist-firstā agreements with every other label and publisher. Clearly, Universalās self-serving actions are not in the best interests of artists, songwriters and fans.ā