TikTok users have been left worried that UMG – Universal Music Group – will pull their music from the app, leaving videos without sound from the likes of Taylor Swift. Here’s everything we know about what’s going on.
When TikTok first started out in 2016, it merged with ByteDance’s other short-form video app – Musical.ly – which was all about dance routines, lip-syncing, and other ways for creatives to showcase their work.
As a result, music has always played a big role in videos. This includes rising artists debuting their own songs and massive stars having their hits used in different roles. However, the latter part of that can create issues.
That’s unfolding now as Universal Music Group – UMG – has threatened to pull their music from the short-form video app if TikTok doesn’t increase the payments that artists receive for their music being used.
TikTok has started losing music from UMG artists
As it stands, TikTok’s license to use UMG’s music expired on January 31, but the publishers have not yet pulled all of the music or struck TikTok videos that have used them. Though, that process has started.
UMG have begun removing select songs from their library of music, but that doesn’t include fan edits for now. So, if a song is remixed and credited to a fan, it’ll still be available – for now.
Any pre-existing video that uses a song from a UMG artist, which includes Taylor Swift, Drake, Kendrick Lamar, The Weeknd, Harry Styles, and Billie Eilish- some of the most popular artists on TikTok – will simply just be muted.
UMG has officially started removing their artists’ catalogs from TikTok. Official songs are no longer appearing for UMG artists under the ‘sounds’ tab, with the exception of fan-made edits. pic.twitter.com/Aw8MRpPDe4
— Pop Base (@PopBase) February 1, 2024
UMG have accused TikTok of trying to “bully” them into taking a worse deal. “As our negotiations continued, TikTok attempted to bully us into accepting a deal worth less than the previous deal, far less than fair market value and not reflective of their exponential growth,” they said.
TikTok has fired back by claiming that UMG is putting “their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters.”
If anything changes, we’ll update this article. But, for now, some UMG artists will start to disappear from TikTok.