Universal Music Group withdraws music from TikTok

Universal Music Group (UMG) have begun removing music catalogs of performers, such as Olivia Rodrigo, Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey, represented by the label from TikTok after negotiations to renew licensing agreements broke down earlier this week. The former licensing agreement between UMG and TikTok expired on 31 January.

On Tuesday, Universal Music called "time out" on the social media platform for not "paying fair value for the music" of represented artists, and for attempting to "bully" and "intimidate" the label into accepting a "bad deal" over artist compensation, protections against AI-generated music, and online safety on the platform to protect artists from “hate speech, bigotry, bullying and harassment."

TikTok responded to UMG's claims, saying that it was "disappointing" that UMG had "chosen to walk away from the powerful support of a platform with well over a billion users,” and accused the label of putting its “own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters."

Earlier today, ties between the two companies ceased after TikTok confirmed that it had withdrawn music represented by Universal, which immediately affected videos and music content on the app. Music by Universal artists were completely swiped from TikTok’s library, and existing videos that used recordings from UMG artists had their audio completely muted. Further, UMG songs were made unavailable for users to add to new content.

Amid Universal’s clash with the platform comes the latest in a media conflict spanning almost two decades, seeing tech companies’ innovations in contention with boundaries set by the music industry.