TikTok loses Taylor Swift, Drake and other top Universal Music artists

Universal Music Group (UMG) has begun removing music catalogs from artists that the label represents – including Taylor Swift, Drake and Olivia Rodrigo – from TikTok after negotiations to renew licensing deals collapsed this week. The previous licensing agreement between UMG and TikTok expired on January 31.

On Tuesday, UMG accused the video platform of trying to bully it into accepting a “bad deal” that did not allay record labels’ concerns about adequate compensation for artists and songwriters, protection against AI-generated music, and online security on site. platform to protect artists from “hate speech, intolerance, intimidation and harassment.” TikTok responded by saying it was “disappointing” that UMG had “decided to walk away from the powerful support of a platform with over a billion users” and accused the label of putting its “own greed before the interests of its artists and songwriters.” .”

Now, UMG-owned music featured in TikTok videos will be muted, and users who want to replace removed tracks will need to select alternative options from other music labels.