TikTok has started removing Universal Music Group’s songs

TikTok has confirmed that it has begun to remove Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) songs from its platform.

The app has already removed tracks by artists who are signed to the label and will be doing the same with songwriters. The removal of the UMPG tracks comes three days before the  UMPG catalogue becomes unlicensed for use on the social media platform.

Per Music Business Worldwide, “Any recording of a song currently available on TikTok that has been co-written by a songwriter signed to Universal Music Publishing will also need to come down in the event of UMPG’s license expiring.

According to BBC, TikTok has shared that up to 30 per cent of the platform’s “popular songs” could be lost, with some industry estimates revealing that up to 80 per cent of all music on TikTok could be muted.

A short list of UMG artists whose music is expected to vanish from the platform is Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny, The Weeknd, Drake, Billie Eilish, Justin Bieber, Adele, Coldplay, J Balvin, Post Malone and Sophie Ellis-Bextor – whose 2001 track ‘Murder On The Dancefloor’ has gone particularly viral through TikTok following the release of Saltburn.

Last month, UMG published an open letter announcing its intention to withdraw music from artists signed to the publisher and label from TikTok.

In its statement, UMG announced that its licensing agreement with TikTok expired on January 31 and that negotiations to renew the contract have fallen short. According to Reuters, TikTok and UMG first reached an agreement in February 2021.

UMG wrote: “In our contract renewal discussions, we have been pressing [TikTok] 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.”

On the matter of artist compensation, UMG claims “TikTok proposed paying our artists and songwriters at a rate that is a fraction of the rate that similarly situated major social platforms pay”, which it says accounts for one per cent of its revenue. “Ultimately TikTok is trying to build a music-based business, without paying fair value for the music,” UMG wrote.

TikTok also published its own statement in response to UMG, accusing the publisher of pushing a “false narrative and rhetoric” and for putting its “own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters”.

TikTok’s short statement notes that UMG has “chosen to walk away from the powerful support of a platform with well over a billion users that serves as a free promotional and discovery vehicle for their talent”.

The platform’s response ends by claiming it has “been able to reach ‘artist-first’ agreements with every other label and publisher. Clearly, Universal’s self-serving actions are not in the best interests of artists, songwriters and fans.”

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