Universal Music Group Signs Licensing Deal with Emerging TikTok Rival Lomotif

On July 26 Universal Music Group announced a freshly-inked licensing deal with Singapore-based short-form video-sharing app and TikTok rival, Lomotif.

As first reported by the Financial Times, UMG and Lomotif, which has been downloaded over 225 million times globally, have been negotiating a deal since 2016. Lomotif counts 31m MAUs (monthly active users) and over 300m videos are being watched on its app each month. The app also has content deals in place with Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat.

With this agreement, UMG becomes the first major music company to globally license Lomotif. This deal is one of several that the major music group signed with social media platforms this year. UMG announced that it had struck a global licensing deal with TikTok in February and in June the music company inked a global deal with Snap Inc. (Snapchat) spanning recorded music and augmented reality experiences.

“Social is a booming business,” Michael Nash, Head of Digital Strategy at Universal Music told The Financial Times.

“There was a time when the approach would be: we have a problem with the content on your platform,” added Nash. “There has been a change in posture … we see the importance of engaging with companies as early as possible in the process.”

As shared in the press release, Nash concluded: “We are very pleased that Lomotif’s fast-growing community of users around the world will be able to take inspiration from the artists and music they love, all while ensuring UMG’s artists are fairly compensated for the value music generates on Lomotif’s platform. We look forward to working with Lomotif to help unlock even more innovative music-based features for their community.”

In May, UMG and TikTok rival Triller announced renewed worldwide licensing agreements spanning both recorded music and publishing.

Following its acquisition, Lomotif will change its name to LoMo. According to a press release, the company stated that LoMo “will be rebranded and re-positioned in a new North American marketing campaign.”

Paul Yang, Lomotif’s CEO and founder shared: “Our deal with Universal Music Group will continue to grow users and increase engagement within our platform, a destination for emerging artists, and will significantly expand the types of music our community can utilize, collaborate with and share.

“With nearly 800 million videos created to date, we are heading in a great direction as a platform, and making high-value content, functionality, and features available to our community will only help us grow exponentially.”

Learn more about Lomotif, here.