This past week, negotiations broke down between Universal Music—the biggest and most powerful of the three major labels—and Tik Tok, the world’s most viral social media platform. The result: Universal’s music has been pulled—almost entirely—from the mimetic app. It’s a show of raw muscle the likes of which we haven’t seen for years, and the implications are fascinating. But how did it come to this? Why are two of the biggest forces in the music business in a battle that neither should have wanted?
To better understand the story, we dig into the payout structures that define the conflict, the inter-sectoral strategies that shaped it, and the negotiations that led to everything falling apart. Once again, it’s a fight about the future of sound—and which type of business is going to own it. Come for everyone talking about AI without anyone talking about AI. Stay for a KILLER data-science research project.
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Merlin and What It Means (and Meant) to be Indie
The Great Music AI Contradiction (Live at Wavelengths Summit)
Blurred Lines and the Future of Copyright
Inside the Algorithm Factory: Music Recommendations (w/ Nick Seaver)
Streaming in the Dark: No One Knows Anything (w/ Meredith Rose)
Spotify Redux (Quiet Threats + Desperate Flailing)
From Houston to the World: The Political Economy of DJ Screw (with Lance Scott Walker)
Metadata Errors in the Lime Green Lamborghini (With Kristin Robinson)
Reggaeton Gets Sued
A.I. in Der Klub (And Your Next Playlist)
What Taylor Swift Tells Us About the Billboard Charts
The Rise and Fall of SST Records with Jim Ruland
Penny Fractions Live with Cherie Hu and Liz Pelly
Dan Ozzi on the Political Economy of Selling Out
The Music Catalog Acquisition Cool Down
Damon Krukowski on Unions, Streaming, and Musical Labor
The KLF: A Foolproof Way To Hit No. 1
Born to Sell: Springsteen’s Tickets + Meta Makes Moves
K-Pop Histories Beyond BTS (Featuring The Idolcast)
Kate Bush is Running Up Those Charts
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