TikTok has recently introduced the MediaMatch feature on its platform, aimed towards record labels with copyrighted content on the app. Labels can now strike TikTok videos under the infringement of copyright. However, as per TikTok's support page, "MediaMatch is currently available to record labels that own a significant amount of copyrighted material."
Such a move was, being entirely honest, bound to happen eventually. Considering TikTok's massive community, its commercial success, and its delving into branded deals and content, it was only a matter of time before the video-sharing platform would succumb to the whims of big labels and companies vehemently looking to protect their intellectual property. Such moves are hardly unprecedented either. Facebook, Instagram and Google's YouTube have all gone the same way, and such moves have always been at the expense of users.
If this author comes off as uncharacteristically bitter, they apologise. However, copyright strikes go a very, very long way in stifling online freedom of expression and creativity. The most atrocious examples of such suppression come from YouTube, where many creators have actively gone out of their way to challenge the system and the atmosphere it contributes to. Considering how heavily creators rely on the platform for their living, the atmosphere large corporations have inadvertently created is toxic.
YouTube serves as a massive host for any sort of niches that creators wish to occupy. However, regardless of what one pursues online as a career, creators on YouTube need to rely on modern trends and pop-culture to maintain relevancy in fast-changing times. This becomes especially hard to do when those very trends and pop-cultures strike videos down for sharing anything related to them. Nintendo has been heavily criticised for its borderline inhuman copyright strikes, leading the entire gaming community to tiptoe around reviewing or interacting with their content.
TikTok's very steadily becoming the next online video-sharing money raker for creators. No doubt, this news will come as a shock to those very creators, especially considering how much the platform relies on monetizing lip-synching videos. But even if we were to move beyond that and consider all the other fields people dabble in such as comedy, trick shots, you name it, a looming aura of accountability is created.
While anyone could argue that since music is technically the intellectual property of labels, giving them the right to do as they please, this author respectfully disagrees. The brilliance of platforms like YouTube and TikTok is that anyone, be they affluent or underprivileged, can have a proper shot at either gaining a new economic lease on life, or the ability to express themselves. Large labels run by billionaires can afford to fork over fragments of music that can make or break lives.
H/T: @liamseys
Read next: A TikTok executive shares some key insights for brands to achieve success on the social network
Such a move was, being entirely honest, bound to happen eventually. Considering TikTok's massive community, its commercial success, and its delving into branded deals and content, it was only a matter of time before the video-sharing platform would succumb to the whims of big labels and companies vehemently looking to protect their intellectual property. Such moves are hardly unprecedented either. Facebook, Instagram and Google's YouTube have all gone the same way, and such moves have always been at the expense of users.
If this author comes off as uncharacteristically bitter, they apologise. However, copyright strikes go a very, very long way in stifling online freedom of expression and creativity. The most atrocious examples of such suppression come from YouTube, where many creators have actively gone out of their way to challenge the system and the atmosphere it contributes to. Considering how heavily creators rely on the platform for their living, the atmosphere large corporations have inadvertently created is toxic.
YouTube serves as a massive host for any sort of niches that creators wish to occupy. However, regardless of what one pursues online as a career, creators on YouTube need to rely on modern trends and pop-culture to maintain relevancy in fast-changing times. This becomes especially hard to do when those very trends and pop-cultures strike videos down for sharing anything related to them. Nintendo has been heavily criticised for its borderline inhuman copyright strikes, leading the entire gaming community to tiptoe around reviewing or interacting with their content.
TikTok's very steadily becoming the next online video-sharing money raker for creators. No doubt, this news will come as a shock to those very creators, especially considering how much the platform relies on monetizing lip-synching videos. But even if we were to move beyond that and consider all the other fields people dabble in such as comedy, trick shots, you name it, a looming aura of accountability is created.
While anyone could argue that since music is technically the intellectual property of labels, giving them the right to do as they please, this author respectfully disagrees. The brilliance of platforms like YouTube and TikTok is that anyone, be they affluent or underprivileged, can have a proper shot at either gaining a new economic lease on life, or the ability to express themselves. Large labels run by billionaires can afford to fork over fragments of music that can make or break lives.
H/T: @liamseys
Read next: A TikTok executive shares some key insights for brands to achieve success on the social network
