Elon Musk’s Latest Cost-Cutting Move Ends Twitter’s Music Dreams

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Twitter has reportedly deserted plans of signing music licensing offers beneath CEO Elon Musk as a result of excessive prices concerned. According to The New York Times, the social media firm was in talks with three big-name music labels when Musk bought the corporate for round $44 billion, however these discussions have since stalled utterly. A licensing deal would give the social media platform entry to the music beneath a label’s catalog, and in return, the corporate pays the music rights homeowners a fats charge.

Users on the platform, consequently, are free to make use of the licensed library of music with none copyright points or takedown fears. The likes of Instagram, TikTook, and Facebook have already got signed offers with music labels, however Twitter is the one huge social platform with none such music settlement beneath its belt. Twitter has reportedly prevented such a deal due to the excessive prices concerned, which might exceed $100 million for a platform of that dimension and attain, the New York Times reported.

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“Twitter began negotiations with the three major music conglomerates — Universal, Sony and Warner — in the fall of 2021, according to six people close to the talks,” The New York Times reported. When Musk took over, nevertheless, various staff concerned in these negotiations have been laid off. To recall, Musk has drastically gutted Twitter’s workforce prior to now few months, resulting in some excessive profile departures. The cost-cutting measures run so deep that worker perks have been lower, workplace area has been vacated, furnishings auctioned, and chapter fears have been raised by none aside from Musk himself.

“The company had little means to justify paying tens of millions of dollars to music rights holders,” says the New York Times. However, Twitter has been caught within the storm of music copyright violations on a number of events. In 2021, Billboard reported that Twitter has not confirmed an inclination to come back to the desk to debate a contract with music labels. What’s extra, Billboard additionally famous that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) complained that Twitter takes “three to five days” to acquiesce to takedown requests for copyright violations.