As of January 31, Universal Music Group’s (UMG) opted to remove popular songs from TikTok due to their license expiring. Songs from Taylor Swift, The Weeknd, Drake, and many more were removed from the platform. This news was an unexpected turn of events for content creators who use TikTok seeing as they can no longer use audio clips from several famous artists.
Prior to Universal Music Group removing all of their licensed songs there had been a dispute regarding the issue of Artificial Intelligence on TikTok. It appears that prior to this decision or the contract expiring, TikTok had failed to address problems regarding Artificial Intelligence according to CNet.
According to a letter published by The Universal Music Group domain, “TikTok didn’t even attempt to address the other issues we raised regarding harmful AI and platform safety.” UMG further claimed TikTok attempted to push UMG into a deal, “worth less than the previous deal, far less than fair market value and not reflective of their exponential growth.”
In response to UMG, on January 30, TikTok Newsroom stated that “It is sad and disappointing that Universal Music Group has put their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters.”
As of February 27, it has been reported that more music from TikTok is going to be removed and Music Business World reported that “some industry estimates say up to 80% of all music on TikTok could be muted due to split copyrights.”
Upcoming singers and songwriters have spoken on the issue. One such artist is Mae Stephens. She had an opportunity to record an album after her song “If We Ever Broke Up” exploded on Tiktok. Now, things are up in the air. She told BBC News, “It’s a bit of shock to be honest, I still can’t believe everything that happened to me.”
Kim Petras who was featured in the top hit song “Unholy” with Sam Smith gave a statement to BBC News on the matter defending UMG. “I feel very protected by Universal. I know people who have number one records and can’t afford their rent, so I’m proud Universal is taking a stand.”
