If you happen to use a song from artists like Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, The Weeknd, Drake, and more for your TikTok, you’d probably notice that they have been muted. The reason? The licensing contract between TikTok and Universal Music Group (UMG) has expired, leading through the latter pulling out its entire music catalog, making it impossible to use any of those popular songs to make your TikToks go viral.
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Because of this, previous TikToks that use any UMG music will be muted, and users have the option to change the music with what’s available from TikTok’s music catalog.
The issue is a major one for UMG’s part, that they even published an open letter calling out TikTok for their unfair practices. “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,” UMG said in their statement.
“Ultimately TikTok is trying to build a music-based business, without paying fair value for the music.”
Those are bold words from UMG, elaborating that TikTok does not compensate artists and songwriters fairly despite its growing user base, and that TikTok only accounts for 1% of UMG’s revenue.Â
TikTok fired back at UMG immediately with their own statement, calling out UMG for putting “their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters.”
“Clearly, Universal’s self-serving actions are not in the best interests of artists, songwriters and fans,” TikTok adds in their statement.
While both parties have valid points, either party has to adjust to make all ends meet. TikTok has proven to be a solid platform on making some songs viral and popular, while UMG holds the majority of music copyrights around the world.
The dispute between UMG and TikTok reminds us of the one between KakaoM and Spotify back in 2021, where a big chunk of KPop music disappeared on Spotify’s platform because of licensing issues. This was eventually resolved a month later after making adjustments to their licensing agreements.
