US producer and musician Jack Antonoff said artists shouldn’t get used to “being paid less” while commenting on the TikTok dispute with Universal Music Group.
The 39-year-old, who produced records for Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey, won his third consecutive Grammy award for producer of the year (non-classical) during the pre-telecast ceremony.
In the winner’s room, Antonoff commented on record label Universal withdrawing millions of songs from TikTok after failing to come to an agreement in contract renewal discussions over payments to artists, AI and online safety.
Congrats Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical winner – @jackantonoff. #GRAMMYs 🎶
WATCH NOW https://t.co/OuKk34kvdu pic.twitter.com/KeXGjlhIJq
— Recording Academy / GRAMMYs (@RecordingAcad) February 5, 2024
“I’d like it to go back up,” he joked.
“There’s a lot of things wrong, as you know last time I was here we were talking about ticketing, you’ve always got to make sure as an artist you can’t get used to being paid less, which they try to get you used to.
“At the very least we should have known,” Antonoff added.
Comedian Trevor Noah also joked about the dispute when he opened the 66th Grammy awards.
“You know TikTok shame on you, for ripping off all of these artists, how dare you do that, that’s Spotify’s job,” he joked.
Antonoff beat out Dernst “D’Mile” Emile II, Hit-Boy, Metro Boomin, and Daniel Nigro for the award on Sunday.
During his acceptance speech, Antonoff praised Swift for boosting his career by recruiting him.