TikTok, Syco, Universal Music Group, Republic Records and Samsung announce StemDrop, a groundbreaking new evolution in global music collaboration

StemDrop launches in collaboration with one of the greatest songwriting teams in history, led by Max Martin. TikTok creators globally are exclusively provided with music ‘stems’ and invited to produce their own versions of a brand-new song written by the prolific hitmakers.

Simon Cowell and Syco Entertainment, the pioneers behind the world’s most successful talent discovery formats, along with award winning international entertainment executive Tim Van Rongen, have partnered with Universal Music Group, the world-leader in music-based entertainment and its Republic Records label to create StemDrop – a new evolution of musical collaboration, curation and artist discovery to be launched exclusively with TikTok and Samsung.

Joining StemDrop for its launch are the prolific hit-making team, Max Martin, Savan Kotecha and Ali Payami. Revolutionizing global music collaboration, StemDrop will act as an incubator for new talent, artistry, and creativity by giving the opportunity for all artists and music creators, from anywhere in the world, the opportunity to collaborate with some of the very best and most iconic songwriting talents of all time.

Made possible by Samsung, there will also be a first of its kind ‘StemDrop Mixer’ on TikTok where creators of all levels can experiment with individual effects, harmonies and melodies to create and upload their own unique version of the song.

Officially launching on 26 October on TikTok, with creative direction from Syco Entertainment and Universal Music Group’s Republic Records and powered by Samsung Galaxy. StemDrop is a never-before-seen platform for artists to showcase their talent to the world.

Max Martin, the prolific producer and songwriter, has produced dozens of the greatest and best known Billboard number 1 singles over the last two decades, including Britney Spears’ “…Baby One More Time”, Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way”, Céline Dion’s “That’s the Way It is”, Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” and The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights”.

Fuelled by their passion to collaborate, the multiple Grammy-Award winning songwriters Max Martin, Savan Kotecha (One Direction, Ariana Grande, Katy Perry, Christina Aguilera, The Weeknd) and Ali Payami (Taylor Swift, The Weeknd) are releasing a version of their brand-new single ‘Red Lights’ for the first StemDrop, kicking-off this new generation of global music collaboration.

TikTok’s community of over one billion users continues to push culture forward and at the heart of TikTok is the belief that anyone can take a sound, creative idea, trend or cultural moment and flip it to collaborate with others and create something entirely original, entertaining and engaging.

On October 26, Max Martin, Savan Kotecha and Ali Payami will release 60-seconds of the new single ‘Red Lights’ exclusively on TikTok. As soon as the song drops, the community will be able to access the ‘stems’ (the individual components of the song i.e. drums, bass guitar, vocal parts etc) through the StemDrop H5 page and can create, record & share their own unique versions to kick-start their music careers.

As part of the partnership between Samsung & TikTok, announced in September at IFA conference in Berlin, Samsung will be facilitating the program through product innovations that are open to all and exclusive to none.

The StemDrop Profile will also provide TikTok users, and creators a window into the StemDrop process, as new versions of the track from around the world are curated weekly by each of the individual songwriting teams as well as TikTok, Syco, Republic Records and Universal Music Group. TikTok music curator Ari Elkins, singer-songwriter Astrid S and Your Boy Moyo will act as global ambassadors for StemDrop and host daily content on the @StemDrop channel on TikTok.

The official StemDrop channel (@stemdrop) will post videos to celebrate the launch of StemDrop and spark excitement among the TikTok community.