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Key Takeaways
- Universal Music Group (UMG) has removed all its artists’ music from TikTok due to a lack of artist compensation and copyright protection.
- This separation will have a major impact on both the app and UMG artists, as TikTok was a significant platform for free music marketing.
- TikTok users are reacting by making entertaining content without music or using copyright-free music, while UMG artists express concern about losing a platform for promoting their songs.
It’s a sad day to be a TikTok user. On February 1, Universal Music Group (UMG) pulled all of its artists’ music off TikTok. UMG posted an open letter on January 30 criticizing TikTok for its lack of artist compensation and copyright protection, especially in regard to Artificial Intelligence (A.I.). UMG and TikTok’s negotiations surrounding these two topics came to no avail, leading to UMG’s official departure from the social media platform.
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This separation will not just be a major hit for the music-centric app, but also possibly for UMG artists themselves. TikTok, which has over one billion users, quickly became one of the biggest free music marketing platforms. This major change has both artists and TikTok influencers doing what they do best: Making content that gets popular fast.
How TikTok users are reacting
Of course, users quickly jumped on the chance to make entertaining content. Influencer Alix Earle posted a 15-second TikTok talking about how ridiculous her older videos will look now without music playing:
Earle isn’t alone in her dreaded embarrassment of old dancing videos. Other creators hilariously posted about what their classic TikTok style dancing videos will look like now that the music playing is muted:
Better yet, many TikTokers are planning future videos to be made using copyright-free music.
Or with no music at all…
How are artists reacting?
UMG artists who originally got their start on TikTok, such as Noah Kahan, are low-key freaking out about no longer being able to promote their songs on the platform anymore.
Let’s say, his fans aren’t too happy either:
Even the lead singer of music group The 502s chimed in to express his dismay.
Noah Kahan isn’t the only artist concerned about his music being pulled right before an upcoming song release. U.K. artist Silk posted this TikTok commenting on how he now needs to find a new way to draw in a bigger audience for his debut EP release.
Which artists don’t have music on TikTok anymore?
Universal Music Group includes Abbey Road Studios, Bravado, Capitol Music Group, Decca Records and Def Jam Recordings to name just a few. Which means major artists such as Taylor Swift, SZA, Drake, Lana del Ray, Justin Bieber, Billie Eilish and more will have music pulled from the platform.
What does this mean for the future of TikTok?
has already begun muting videos using UMG music. However, this major loss will make it harder for artists on TikTok to cover songs made by UMG artists. This situation isn’t unprecedented. In 2008 Warner Music Group pulled out of their licensing contract with YouTube, removing all music videos from the platform before renewing their contract nine months later.
Hopefully, will follow Spotify and Apple Music’s recent strides to compensate artists fairly for their music so that someday soon we will all be able to dance to whatever new music Taylor Swift releases next.
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