I know it's become a meme, but exposure is a real tangible thing. If I get a clip of my song onto millions of people's phone screens and I don't pay for it, it's basically thousands (if not tens of thousands) of dollars of free advertising.

Just because some asshole on Facebook marketplace is begging for free commissions doesn't invalidate the benefits you can gain from exposure in general.

Having said all that, we are talking about Universal not some indie folk band. The same thing Tiktok is doing to Universal (paying a very small %) is exactly what Universal does to artists. I have very little empathy for either Tiktok or Universal.

On the topic, I actually support Tiktok more in the sense that independent artists now have the means to go viral much more easily on a platform which inevitably leads to organic growth + success. Universal is a behemoth from an era that hasn't fully died.