TikTok will pay South African musicians for every play under a just-signed deal

TikTok has announced a multi-year licensing agreement which covers 58 territories across the African continent. The deal will see South African songwriters, composers, and music publishers paid royalties when their music is used on the video-sharing social networking service.

The deal ensures the talented songwriters, composers and music publishers the organisations represent will receive royalty payments when their music is used on the platform. Through CAPASSO’s existing partnerships, the agreement will cover 58 territories across the African continent, covering repertoire belonging to 21 separate collective management organisations. CAPASSO will administer the agreement on behalf of thousands of its members and affiliate members.

Music by African songwriters and performers is said to be already proving popular on TikTok and has led to trends such as the electric dance genre #Amapiano, which exploded last year with over 181 million video views. The South African track ‘Jerusalema’, a song by DJ and producer Master KG, featuring vocalist Nomcebo was a global TikTok sensation in 2020, following a choreographed dance routine by Angolan-based Fenómenos do Semba dance group. The #Jerusalema challenge videos have been viewed over 1 billion times and helped the track achieve international recognition and chart success in Europe and the United States.

TikTok is delighted to enter into this agreement with SAMRO and CAPASSO, ensuring that songwriters, composers and publishers across Africa can benefit when their music is used on TikTok. This is an exciting region for us with a huge pool of incredible talent, and we look forward to connecting them with our global audience. – Jordan Lowy, Head of Music Publishing Licensing and Partnerships at TikTok

We are happy to have reached an agreement with TikTok in order to ensure that pan African songwriters are taken care of on the platform. As a social music platform, TikTok has revolutionised how we engage and consume music. TikTok allows fans to co-create, contextualise and re-interpret their favourite songs alongside their favourite artists and drives engagement and a deeper appreciation of songs in an era when music consumption is increasingly divorced from context. With the increasing spotlight on African music, more African songwriters are poised to reach global superstar status and TikTok will play a major role in showcasing their talents to the world. – Wiseman Ngubo, CAPASSO Chief Operations Officer