The Universal Music Group (UMG) dropped a bomb, and many famous artists and songs were wiped off TikTok. Due to a dispute in the licensing agreement, the contract between TikTok and UMG expired on 31st January. As a result, songs by artists like Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish, Drake, The Weekend, and many more are removed from the app.
This definitely comes as a shocker and could cause a drop in TikTok’s user base because popular music will be available on YouTube shorts and Instagram reels but not on TikTok.
@cbsmornings Universal has pulled all of the music by its artists from TikTok, including Taylor Swift, Drake and many others, after the two companies failed to agree over issues from compensation to the use of AI. #news #tiktok #music
While the BBC and other news portals predict that TikTok might lose 30% of its music due to this disagreement, the outcome can be even worse. UMG has decided to pull off all kinds of collaborations from the app.
Let’s say an artist is not directly related to Universal Music but has collaborated with a UMG artist for their song. That song will also be removed from the platform because of “split copyright.” It means that almost 80% of the popular music can be muted on the platform in the future, so it’s bad news for TikTok.
“This means that videos featuring songs by artists like Harry Styles and Adele, who have written with Universal-signed artists, could soon be muted. TikTok says up to 30% of what it calls “popular songs” could be lost.” – BBC.
Over the years, TikTok has become a bridge between artists and music lovers. Last year, TikTok also hosted its first online concert in collaboration with popular artists. This dispute can be a big drawback for TikTok, and by seeing UMG slowly playing its moves, it seems they are not yet in the mood to resolve this issue.
On a brighter note, there’s a possibility that everything could be resolved by next week, allowing us to once again enjoy our preferred tunes and uncover new music talents on TikTok. Let’s see how this unfolds.