Music catalogs for Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Sony Music, and Merlin were removed from Triller recently after a lawsuit by Sony Music Entertainment claiming Triller had “historically failed to make payments promptly.”
A Triller spokesperson says the platform is “reassessing each of our label deals as they come due as our catalog music usage is a small fraction of our overall business with creators. Some labels are more used than others, and if we can make financial arrangements that make sense for the platform on a label-by-label basis, we will. In other cases, the usage does not justify the cost.”
A source at one of the other major music companies says a similar breach of contract and failure to make payments, including “millions and millions in the past due royalties,” was behind Triller’s decision to pull these catalogs. The Triller spokesperson called that claim “false and grossly inaccurate.”
In a Thursday morning email, Merlin’s senior director of business and legal affairs alerted members that Triller had “commenced the takedown of Merlin content.” He continued, writing, “at this stage, we do not believe Merlin is the only licensor/content provider to have had content taken down. The term of our current agreement with Triller has now expired. We will update members as soon as we can regarding renewal discussions.”
Triller spokesperson explained, “We are in active conversations with Merlin and expect to renew our relationship and continue our friendly and successful partnership.” “As Triller has grown and expanded its portfolio of services for creators as an open-garden platform, we are recalibrating some of our partnerships with a focus towards showcasing talent and maximizing their monetization,” that statement continued.
– Excerpt from an article for Billboard by Kristin Robinson. Read the full article here.
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