Are Short-Form Video Platforms Killing the Music Industry?

Kristin Snyder

Kristin Snyder is dot.LA's 2022/23 Editorial Fellow. She previously interned with Tiger Oak Media and led the arts section for UCLA's Daily Bruin.

Are Short-Form Video Platforms Killing the Music Industry?
Evan Xie

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Short-form video-sharing platform Triller is set to pay Sony Music Entertainment $4.57 million after reaching a settlement over a breach of agreement lawsuit. The record company had initially sued Triller in 2022 after the company allegedly failed to pay music licensing fees. The agreement comes after Triller was over one year late on contract payments, according to Sony Music.


This isn’t the first time the Los Angeles-based startup has been in hot water with record labels. Universal Music Group sued Triller in January after the company allegedly missed nine months of licensing payments. In September, Triller settled a lawsuit from artists Timbaland and Swizz Beatz after the company did not make payments following its acquisition of their live streaming platform Verzuz. Amidst its legal troubles, the company failed to make good on its promise to go public last year.

Triller’s issues allegedly stem from its inability to actually pay the record labels it is striking deals with. But it’s not alone in provoking the music industry’s ire. Increasingly, relationships between record labels and short-form video platforms have soured.

Just look at TikTok. Though the company has consistently paid music licensing fees, record labels consider those payments insufficient. Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group all wanted a portion of TikTok’s significant advertising revenue last year. Some industry insiders hope to move away from relying on viral videos as a marketing strategy. And back in 2020, music publishing companies threatened to sue TikTok over copyright infringement, though the lawsuit did not come to fruition.

These spats haven’t stopped TikTok from becoming a music powerhouse that can both launch new artists into stardom and revive classic songs. The impact of a viral TikTok hit has made the platform a necessary evil for music labels’ marketing efforts. The same, however, cannot be said for Triller, which has fewerusers and lessmoney than TikTok.

For its part, TikTok is trying to prove that it can function without the music provided by the labels. The platform began testing limitations on how many songs a user can upload in February. Last year, TikTok launched its own music platform SoundOn. To that end, some industry insiders worry that TikTok is trying to become a record label itself—a move that would further strain relationships within the music industry.

Meanwhile, YouTube Shorts finally let creators use up to one minute of licensed music in their videos last year. YouTube, which helped launch new artists like Justin Bieber and Charlie Puth, used to have TikTok’s ability to start careers. But as YouTube raked in advertising revenue, labels wanted royalty payments to increase. Some artists, including Paul McCartney and Taylor Swift, signed an open letter to Congress in 2016 that requested action against YouTube for hosting videos that violated copyright laws. Now, rights holders are paid a portion of a video’s ad revenue. Still, some artists, however, have found that YouTube’s royalty payment system is rife with errors.

Which is to say, it appears the music industry is re-living its YouTube war with TikTok and Triller. What remains to be seen is if TikTok manages to build out its own record label—a move that could seriously threaten the music labels that have already been burned.

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LA Tech Week's Climate Panel Unveils Funding Secrets for Green Startups

Samson Amore

Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.

LA Tech Week's Climate Panel Unveils Funding Secrets for Green Startups
Samson Amore

In a region known for being a national trailblazer when it comes to climate policies, there’s no shortage of green energy startups in L.A. looking for funding. There’s also a plethora of investors and incubators, which means founders looking for cash flow should be extra specific about their value proposition when they pitch to cut through the noise. At least that was the message coming from the panelists at the UCLA Anderson School of Management on Tuesday.

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https://twitter.com/samsonamore
samsonamore@dot.la
LA Tech Week Day Two: Social Highlights
Evan Xie

L.A. Tech Week has brought venture capitalists, founders and entrepreneurs from around the world to the California coast. With so many tech nerds in one place, it's easy to laugh, joke and reminisce about the future of tech in SoCal.

Here's what people are saying about day two of L.A. Tech Week on social:

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LA Tech Week: Technology and Storytelling for Social Good

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

LA Tech Week: Technology and Storytelling for Social Good
Photo taken by Decerry Donato

On Monday, Los Angeles-based philanthropic organization Goldhirsh Foundation hosted the Technology and Storytelling For Social Good panel at Creative Visions studio to kick off LA Tech week.

Tara Roth, president of the foundation, moderated the panel and gathered nonprofit and tech leaders including Paul Lanctot, web developer of The Debt Collective; Alexis Cabrera, executive director of 9 Dots; Sabra Williams, co-founder of Creative Acts; and Laura Gonzalez, senior program manager of Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI).

Each of the panelists are grantees of Goldhirsh Foundation’s LA2050, an initiative launched in 2011 that is continuously trying to drive and track progress toward a shared vision for the future of Los Angeles. Goldhirsh’s vision is to make Los Angeles better for all and in order to achieve their goal, the foundation makes investments into organizations, creates partnerships and utilizes social capital through community events.

The panelists shared how the work they are doing in each of their respective sectors uses technology to solve some of society's most pressing challenges and highlight the importance of tech literacy across every community.

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