Universal Music Group has ended its agreement with TikTok and in doing so removed all of its artist’s music from the popular social media app. This means that creators will no longer be able to use music from artists such as Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Bad Bunny, Harry Styles and Niall Horan.
In an open letter, UMG stated there were three main reasons it let its contract expire on Jan. 31, 2024. “In our contract renewal discussions, we have been pressing them on three critical issues—appropriate compensation for our artists and songwriters, protecting human artists from the harmful effects of AI, and online safety for TikTok’s users.”
In response, TikTok shared a statement claiming it was “sad and disappointing that Universal Music Group has put their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters.” TikTok also noted that it had been able to “reach ‘artist-first’ agreements with every other label and publisher.”
So where does that leave the fans, and artists for that matter?
@suzieszv follow my inst: @suzieszv, I will post more dance videos there
In addition to their entire catalogs being removed, artists like Swift, The Weeknd and the Jonas Brothers have had their own videos muted.
my fyp finna be a silent movie lord have mercy https://t.co/8Z5FLv1Dpn
— zae (@itszaeok) February 1, 2024
@its.queen.ife_ And that’s on creativity 🫡 #sza #kendricklamar #diymusic
@munilong My therapist not answering again 😵💫
@dailyxsav Goodbye goodbye goodbye 😭 #taylorswift #umg #music #tiktok #swiftie #swifttok #dailysav #dailyxsav
@mikaelarellano the end of an era
@myvinylcollection19 Tiktok please fix this😭 #taylorsmith #taylorswift #vinyl #vinyltok #fyp
♬ Our Song (Made Famous by Taylor Swift) – Icons Of Modern Country
@notolsennchris Obvi theres more but ouch the pain #umg #taylorswift #gleecast
Since its early days, music has played a large role in TikTok’s popularity; the app was first named Musical.ly, after all.
Unlike other apps at the time, TikTok allowed users to easily pull the sound from someone’s video for their own. It’s believed by many users that this feature influenced the algorithm and improved the view count on videos. These sounds could be audio from pop culture moments, shows, songs or original videos. Instagram took note of this and began incorporating its song library with Reels, and YouTube Shorts followed suit soon after.
@noahkahanmusic thanks love you guys #newmusic #stickseason #noahkahan #noahkahanmusic #forever
Artists have also used TikTok to promote their music. One way is through choreographed dances from creators, such as TikTokkers “brookieandjessie” creating a short routine for Meghan Trainor’s “Made You Look” that helped the song reach 4 million videos on TikTok as of Dec. 22, 2023.
@brookieandjessie made u look!!
@brookieandjessie made her look !!!!!!!! @Meghan Trainor we love u
Another strategy encouraged users to lipsync to a snippet of the song. Swift encouraged fans to use her “Anti-Hero” lyrics “It’s me, hi. I’m the problem, it’s me” for her #AntiHeroChallenge exclusively on YouTube Shorts, before users brought over to TikTok where the song was used in over 367.4K videos.
Users argue viral trends on TikTok drive mainstream popularity, including Olivia Rodrigo’s 2021 single “Driver’s License” from her debut album “Sour.”
Rodrigo was already a well known name among Disney Channel fans for her work on “Bizzardvark” and Disney+’s “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series,” where she got to show off some of her singing chops. During the pandemic, Rodrigo began posting clips of her working on songs from her piano to her social media accounts.
@livbedumb hi! my first tik tok! my name is olivia and I write songs a lot! hope u like dis one!
She shared a preview of what would become “Driver’s License” on her Instagram on July 23, 2020, which sparked fan interest in hearing the full song. She shared a new snippet performing the song on guitar to TikTok on Dec. 27, 2020. When the song was released on Jan. 8, 2021, she again took to TikTok to share the backstory of the song as it played in the background.
@livbedumb
Shortly there after, users began recording themselves lipsyncing to the song in a similar fashion; emotionally singing the prechorus before falling back on their bed and cutting to them dressed up as the beat dropped.
@spoiledmel can this be a trend? 😳 #oliviarodrigo #driverslicense #fyp @livbedumb stream drivers license!!!!
Billboard took note of the platform’s influence on listeners and launched the TikTok Billboard Top 50 chart on Sept. 14, 2023.
Because of this, creators will likely no longer be able to rely on sounds moving forward. TikTok has already been making changes to the style of videos it prioritizes to users’ feeds, encouraging creators to produce more long-form videos, and recently recommending horizontal videos over vertical videos.
Nearly half of the top 50 songs at TikTok this week are unusable following UMG catalog removal. pic.twitter.com/Zf58jIlGTo
— chart data (@chartdata) February 1, 2024
Some creators have used their platform to discuss what losing UMG’s music catalog means for the future of TikTok.
@rachelocool Like actually this is so sad
@grapejuicenads Replying to @evil woman
UMG removing music from TikTok might be an opportunity for some indie artists. 🤷🏽♂️
— Sean Mc Esq. (@ResistanceSean) February 2, 2024
UMG pulling all their music from TikTok sheds a huge light on problems with ownership because now artists can’t even use THEIR OWN music in THEIR OWN videos on a social media app, how is that remotely right?
— alyssa goldberg (@alyssaegoldberg) February 2, 2024
Users also shared theories about why UMG decided to remove its music catalog from the platform.
@nicky.reardon This is my theory for why UMG removed their music from Tiktok, and how it is going to completely change the music industry and creator economy over the next year… #longervideos #videoessay #musicindustry #musicmarketing #universalmusic
As for UMG artists on TikTok, they’ll likely begin to take creative approaches when it comes to promoting their work on the platform, such as acoustic versions of their songs or clips from live performances. However, UMG’s music remains available to use on TikTok competitors Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts.
