Samsung said that starting with its 2022 TV lineup, it would provide broad support for NFTs.

This was disclosed in Samsung press releases titled, “Samsung Electronics Unveils Its 2022 MICRO LED, Neo QLED and Lifestyle TVs, With Next-Generation Picture Quality and Range of Cutting-Edge Personalization Options.”

Samsung becomes the first major TV manufacturer to support NFTs to such a significant degree.

Samsung is introducing the world’s first TV screen-based NFT explorer and marketplace aggregator. This would be a groundbreaking platform that lets you browse, purchase, and display your favourite art all in one place.

“NFT Platform: This application features an intuitive, integrated platform for discovering, purchasing and trading digital artwork through MICRO LED, Neo QLED and The Frame,” Samsung said.

The need for a solution to today’s fragmented viewing and purchase landscape has never been higher, according to Samsung.

What you should know

• Non-fungible token (NFT) assets were extremely popular in YTD with about $20 billion in volume recorded in terms of NFT sales among 100 collections.
• While many single NFTs sold for millions of dollars, a number of NFT projects and collections saw hundreds of millions and even billions in all-time volume.
• According to defillama.com metrics, the popular NFT collection Cryptopunks captured $2.98 billion in all-time volume.
• Numerous NFT collections have been very prominent in 2021 and have been the topic of various discussions
• Hence with the growing popularity of NFTs, Samsung saw that the need for a solution to today’s fragmented watching and purchase landscape has never been higher.

Microsoft’s Bid To Purchase TikTok Is Rejected

Microsoft will not be purchasing the wildly influential social media app, Tik-Tok, the company announced, Sunday. ByteDance, according to a statement from Microsoft, refused to sell to them.

“ByteDance let us know today they would not be selling TikTok’s US operations to Microsoft,” the company said in the statement. “We are confident our proposal would have been good for TikTok’s users, while protecting national security interests. To do this, we would have made significant changes to ensure the service met the highest standards for security, privacy, online safety, and combatting disinformation, and we made these principles clear in our August statement. We look forward to seeing how the service evolves in these important areas.”

Instead, ByteDance has reportedly reached an agreement with the software giant, Oracle.

TikTok was desperate to be sold after the Trump administration put pressure on the company, considering TikTok to be a threat to national security.

“The U.S. government is forcing one of China’s most successful global media companies to sell under a less than ideal timeframe, and China is trying to avoid having this set a precedent,” said Paul Triolo, head of global technology policy at the Eurasia Group. “The TikTok ban has to be viewed as part of this longer-term effort by the U.S. to police the boundaries of its technology ecospheres with China.”

Source

TikTok Announces First Music Distribution Deal with UnitedMasters

The controversial social media app has announced its first music distribution deal with UnitedMasters which will allow creators on the video sharing app to directly distribute their music to streaming services like Spotify, TIDAL, YouTube, SoundCloud and Apple Music. Although The future of TikTok in the United States is uncertain at the moment but that hasn’t kept the company from going ahead with a major announcement.

The deal will allow users to create music, promote it on the Chinese app and then distribute it directly through UnitedMasters. NLE Choppa, Lil Tecca, Tobe Nwigwe, Lil XXEL, and many others have successfully used UnitedMasters to distribute their music worldwide. With the development, the company becomes the first music distribution platform to be integrated into TikTok.

TikTok notes that artists like Lil Nas X, Ambjaay, StaySolidRocky, Powfu, BENEE, Y2K, bbno$, and others have utilized their platform to push their music to millions of new listeners. UnitedMasters takes 10% share of revenue for music it distributes, allowing artists to retain their rights. They also have a subscription model where artists can pay a sum every month and keep 100% of revenue.

“TikTok artists who are creating music in their bedrooms today will be featured in the Billboard charts tomorrow,” said Ole Obermann, Global Head of Music at TikTok, in a statement. “Our mission is to help those artists achieve their creative potential and success. This partnership with UnitedMasters gives us a turn-key solution to help artists who are born on TikTok to reach their fans on every music service.”

“If you are a musical artist, TikTok is the best place for your music to go viral and UnitedMasters is the best place to sustain it while retaining full ownership of your work,” said Steve Stoute, CEO and Founder of UnitedMasters. “By combining the two, we create the platform for tomorrow’s stars who will be famous, fiercely independent and wealthy.”

TikTok’s parent company ByteDance is reportedly in talks to sell the North America, Australia and New Zealand operations of TikTok to Microsoft Corp.