Social app TikTok will face digital music copyright organisation ICE at the UK Copyright Tribunal over its failure to secure a licence.
The app has 500 million users worldwide and allows them to create, share and view 15-second videos, many of which contain music.
In a statement, ICE, a joint venture representing the digital music rights of collecting societies PRS for Music, GEMA and STIM, said: ‘We can confirm that this matter has been referred to the UK Copyright Tribunal.
‘The TikTok platform is unlicensed and ICE is disappointed an agreement for use of the millions of musical works belonging to the songwriters, composers and publishers we represent has not been reached before this point.
‘Organisations that use and benefit from music must take out a licence in order to do so. We look forward to representing our rightsholders' interests and securing appropriate value for the vast scale of usage of their repertoire on the platform.
‘Our aim is that by following this legal process TikTok will agree a licence that fairly reflects the value of our rightsholders music.’
No date has been set for the hearing yet, but interested parties are invited to contact the Copyright Tribunal by 16 August.
ICE offers a suite of services for publishers, collective management organisations and rightsholders, including copyright administration, multi-territorial online processing and licensing solutions for digital service providers.
Since its inception in 2016, the organisation has processed trillions of online music uses from streaming services and paid over €930m (£828m) back to rightsholders.
The app has 500 million users worldwide and allows them to create, share and view 15-second videos, many of which contain music.
In a statement, ICE, a joint venture representing the digital music rights of collecting societies PRS for Music, GEMA and STIM, said: ‘We can confirm that this matter has been referred to the UK Copyright Tribunal.
‘The TikTok platform is unlicensed and ICE is disappointed an agreement for use of the millions of musical works belonging to the songwriters, composers and publishers we represent has not been reached before this point.
‘Organisations that use and benefit from music must take out a licence in order to do so. We look forward to representing our rightsholders' interests and securing appropriate value for the vast scale of usage of their repertoire on the platform.
‘Our aim is that by following this legal process TikTok will agree a licence that fairly reflects the value of our rightsholders music.’
No date has been set for the hearing yet, but interested parties are invited to contact the Copyright Tribunal by 16 August.
ICE offers a suite of services for publishers, collective management organisations and rightsholders, including copyright administration, multi-territorial online processing and licensing solutions for digital service providers.
Since its inception in 2016, the organisation has processed trillions of online music uses from streaming services and paid over €930m (£828m) back to rightsholders.
