By: Juliet Roa
At the end of January 2024 Universal Music Group (UMG) removed their artists’ songs from TikTok. This meant that people could no longer use music by an artist at UMG in their video and that videos already posted with such music were muted. For any smaller corporation this might not have had as much of an impact on TikTok’s platform but UMG represents a variety of superstars: SZA, Elton John, Drake, Ariana Grande, etc. Even superstars like Taylor Swift, an artist at UMG, had videos with their own songs muted; of Swift’s 66 videos on TikTok 27 of them had sounds removed.
(Example of Sound Removal on Tik Tok; Photo Credit: Taylor Swift’s Tik Tok Profile)
But why has UMG suddenly pulled their music from TikTok? What initiated this change? The end of January 2024 was when UMG and TikTok’s prior contract expired, and with no renewal TikTok lost the right to host UMG’s songs. According to UMG’s “Open Letter To The Artist and Songwriter Community – Why We Must Call Time Out On TikTok” UMG did not renew a contract with TikTok for three main reasons: “appropriate compensation for our artists and songwriters, protecting human artists from the harmful effects of AI, and online safety for TikTok’s users.” This means that a renewed contract was not finalized because UMG’s artists were being underpaid, had their songs consistently used with AI to no accreditation to the original artist, and its users were being harassed/mistreated without TikTok taking any effective action. UMG then went on to rationalize the complete removal of audio due to how TikTok would try to utilize scare tactics, like removing songs from UMG’s developing artists while still profiting off of the songs of more popular artists.
As of now there seems to be no progress in the TikTok/UMG negotiations and TikTok itself may be in danger of removal. For more information on the possible TikTok ban, look at Jacob Brynczka’s article, “The Ban of TikTok.”
Works Cited:
https://www.umusicpub.com/us/Artists.aspx
https://www.tiktok.com/@taylorswift?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc
