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... Now, nearly a decade after ByteDance Ltd. acquired Musical.ly and gave it a rebrand, TikTok is deprioritizing relationships with music labels " cutting jobs focused on the music industry and emphasizing projects that connect the company more directly to artists rather than their representatives, according to industry players and people familiar with TikTok's strategy.

Though TikTok continues to license music from record labels, including the world's biggest, the media giant is doing the minimum to deliver on many of those contracts, the people said, keeping partners at arm's length as it increases control over its business.

Late last year, TikTok's music division cut many industry-facing roles in a major restructuring, its biggest shakeup since the Musical.ly era, according to people familiar with the company. Before that, TikTok ended a multiyear partnership with Billboard to publish a Top 50 chart, and shut down TikTok Music, its standalone music streaming service. ...