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Grammy winner SZA performs on stage at Spotify’s Night of Music party at the Anaheim Convention Center on June 25, 2022. SZA kill bill is among the new round of songs to be removed from TikTok.
Anna Webber/Getty Images for Spotify
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Anna Webber/Getty Images for Spotify
Grammy winner SZA performs on stage at Spotify’s Night of Music party at the Anaheim Convention Center on June 25, 2022. SZA kill bill is among the new round of songs to be removed from TikTok.
Anna Webber/Getty Images for Spotify
SZA kill bill, Doja Cat’s Paint the city red (speed up) and Mariah Carey All I want for Christmas is you are among songs licensed by Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) that are now being removed from TikTok due to a licensing dispute.
In January, Universal Music Group (UMG) claimed that, among other things, TikTok was not paying or protecting its artists enough. Once the UMG/TikTok licensing deal expired on Jan. 31, songs by artists including Taylor Swift, BTS, Billie Eilish, Adele and Bad Bunny were removed or muted from videos. Songs licensed by UMPG, Universal’s publishing arm, will now also be removed, meaning many more songs will be affected.
According to TikTok, “This means that all songs that were written (or co-written) by a songwriter signed to Universal Music Publishing must be removed from TikTok, and all videos that feature these songs must be muted.”
A TikTok spokesperson said in an email that the combined UMG and UMPG catalog “represents between 20 and 30% of the popular songs on TikTok, depending on the territory.”
A UMG spokesperson said the company will address the TikTok matter during its earnings conference call on Wednesday.
UMG called for a heated ‘Time Out on TikTok’
in an open letter UMG posted on January 30, the company made it clear that previous negotiations between the two media giants had not gone well: “TikTok proposed paying our artists and songwriters a fee that is a fraction of the fee they similarly placed to the main social networks. The platforms pay.”
The letter said TikTok attempted to “bully” the company into accepting a deal, alleging that TikTok is “allowing the platform to be flooded with AI-generated recordings.”
TikTokers are upset, calling UMPG’s actions a “mute apocalypse.” Some publish instructions on how to use music from other sources to restore sound affected by the licensing dispute. fast company grades“This solution violates TikTok’s user agreement, giving the platform grounds to deactivate your accounts.”
This story was edited by Jennifer Vanasco.