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The Value of Silence: The Effect of UMG’s Licensing Dispute with TikTok on Music Demand

Mengjie (Magie) Cheng
Corresponding Author
Mengjie (Magie) Cheng
[email protected]
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8890-7648
Harvard Business School, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts 02163
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Elie Ofek
Elie Ofek
[email protected]
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9585-0961
Harvard Business School, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts 02163
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Hema Yoganarasimhan
Hema Yoganarasimhan
[email protected]
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0703-5196
University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195
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Mengjie (Magie) Cheng

Corresponding Author

Mengjie (Magie) Cheng

[email protected]

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8890-7648

Harvard Business School, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts 02163

Search for more papers by this author

,

Elie Ofek

[email protected]

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9585-0961

Harvard Business School, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts 02163

Search for more papers by this author

,

Hema Yoganarasimhan

Hema Yoganarasimhan

[email protected]

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0703-5196

University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195

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Published Online:9 Jan 2026https://doi.org/10.1287/mksc.2024.1170

cover image Marketing Science

Volume 45, Issue 3

May-June 2026

Pages 493-698, ii

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Received:October 31, 2024
Accepted:October 07, 2025
Published Online:January 09, 2026

Copyright © 2026, INFORMS

Cite as

Mengjie (Magie) Cheng, Elie Ofek, Hema Yoganarasimhan (2026) The Value of Silence: The Effect of UMG’s Licensing Dispute with TikTok on Music Demand. Marketing Science 45(3):493-514.

https://doi.org/10.1287/mksc.2024.1170

Keywords

Acknowledgments

The authors thank participants of the 2024 Harvard Marketing Seminar, the 2024 Theory and Practice in Marketing Conference, the 2024 ISMS Marketing Science Conference, and the 2024 FTC Conference on Marketing and Public Policy for their comments. The authors also thank Shirsho Biswas, Omid Rafieian, and Shunyuan Zhang for detailed feedback that has significantly improved the paper.