Music Counsel - Product Legal

Responsibilities

Global Product Legal is the dedicated legal team for the product, operations, and engineering organization, covering product counseling, creator and industry partnerships, music rights, and AI development.

We partner with business teams, legal specialists, and cross-functional partners to build strategies and execute on product and business initiatives, while navigating a complex regulatory environment and maintaining stakeholder trust.

You will work with product, operations, and engineering from early planning through launch, helping deliver products and initiatives used by billions of people.

TikTok is looking for a transactional attorney to join its fast-growing team of music lawyers in the United States to primarily support the “SoundOn” music distribution platform. This is an opportunity to partner with the SoundOn product team and music legal team colleagues to help shape and grow SoundOn’s suite of services as it expands its scope and geographic reach. The role may also assist in scaling music license coverage of TikTok, the world’s leading short video platform, the digital music streaming service TikTok Music, and other digital properties that feature music.

This is a highly collaborative, on-site role that requires five days per week in the office located in New York, NY.

Responsibilities

• Draft and negotiate music distribution and various types of license agreements with independent artists and independent record labels for the SoundOn platform.
• Provide legal guidance to the SoundOn business and product teams with regard to structuring rights deals with artists and labels, and draft / negotiate related agreements, in connection with music rights administration (sound recordings, music publishing) and artist branding / endorsement arrangements.
• Providing ongoing review of and updates to SoundOn’s license agreement templates across various use cases.
• Draft and negotiate full catalogue music license agreements with record labels, aggregators, music publishers and performing rights and collective management organizations, for various owned and operated digital properties.

Minimum Qualifications

• Juris Doctor from an ABA-accredited law school and active membership in good standing in at least one U.S. state bar.
• Minimum of 3 years of hands-on experience drafting and negotiating agreements for the licensing, administration, and/or acquisition of recorded music and music publishing rights, including artist/talent recording services, label partnerships, multi-platform digital distribution rights, and publishing rights administration.
• Member in good standing of a U.S. state bar association (with ability to register as in-house counsel if working from a different jurisdiction).
• Excellent analytical, communication, drafting, and negotiation skills.
• Ability to thrive in a dynamic, fast-paced environment and manage multiple matters simultaneously against tight deadlines.
• Ability to effectively manage stakeholder expectations and clearly articulate risk/benefit analyses with recommended solutions.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with blanket sound recording and/or music publishing rights licenses in the digital music space.
• Prior in-house experience at a digital music service, music distributor, or streaming platform.

Job Information

【For Pay Transparency】Compensation Description (Annually)

The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $134400 - $223200 annually.

Compensation may vary outside of this range depending on a number of factors, including a candidate’s qualifications, skills, competencies and experience, and location. Base pay is one part of the Total Package that is provided to compensate and recognize employees for their work, and this role may be eligible for additional discretionary bonuses/incentives, and restricted stock units.

Benefits may vary depending on the nature of employment and the country work location. Employees have day one access to medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 401(k) savings plan with company match, paid parental leave, short-term and long-term disability coverage, life insurance, wellbeing benefits, among others. Employees also receive 10 paid holidays per year, 10 paid sick days per year and 17 days of Paid Personal Time (prorated upon hire with increasing accruals by tenure).

The Company reserves the right to modify or change these benefits programs at any time, with or without notice.

For Los Angeles County (unincorporated) Candidates

Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with all federal, state, and local laws including the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act. Our company believes that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship on the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of the conditional offer of employment:

• Interacting and occasionally having unsupervised contact with internal/external clients and/or colleagues;
• Appropriately handling and managing confidential information including proprietary and trade secret information and access to information technology systems; and
• Exercising sound judgment.

About TikTok

TikTok is the leading destination for short-form mobile video. At TikTok, our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. TikTok's global headquarters are in Los Angeles and Singapore, and we also have offices in New York City, London, Dublin, Paris, Berlin, Dubai, Jakarta, Seoul, and Tokyo.

Why Join Us

Inspiring creativity is at the core of TikTok's mission. Our innovative product is built to help people authentically express themselves, discover and connect – and our global, diverse teams make that possible. Together, we create value for our communities, inspire creativity and bring joy - a mission we work towards every day.

We strive to do great things with great people. We lead with curiosity, humility, and a desire to make impact in a rapidly growing tech company. Every challenge is an opportunity to learn and innovate as one team. We're resilient and embrace challenges as they come. By constantly iterating and fostering an "Always Day 1" mindset, we achieve meaningful breakthroughs for ourselves, our company, and our users. When we create and grow together, the possibilities are limitless. Join us.

Diversity & Inclusion

TikTok is committed to creating an inclusive space where employees are valued for their skills, experiences, and unique perspectives. Our platform connects people from across the globe and so does our workplace. At TikTok, our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. To achieve that goal, we are committed to celebrating our diverse voices and to creating an environment that reflects the many communities we reach. We are passionate about this and hope you are too.

TikTok Accommodation

TikTok is committed to providing reasonable accommodations in our recruitment processes for candidates with disabilities, pregnancy, sincerely held religious beliefs or other reasons protected by applicable laws. If you need assistance or a reasonable accommodation, please reach out to us at https://tinyurl.com/RA-request

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