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. UMGposted an open letteron January 30 criticizing TikTok for its lack of artist compensation and copyright protection, especially in regard to Artificial Intelligence (AI). 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.
Most interesting is the division of perspectives. We have UMG stating this is to protect artists from rights infringement and lack of compensation. While on the other hand, certain artists who use the platform for exposure are criticizing the move. The balance between rights, payment, and authority in the evolving streaming age is strife with conflicting views, but payment models for artists seem to be the way forward for companies who come up against these bans.
How TikTok users are reacting
Of course, users quickly jumped on the chance to make entertaining content. Influencer Alix Earle posted a15-second TikTok talkingabout how ridiculous her older videos will look now without music playing, stating that she “can’t believe there’s no music right now on TikTok.”
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. Silent videos started trending with artists or fans mocking the decision to clearly display the usability issues they expect at every corner from here on out.
Noah Kahan isn’t the only artist concerned about his music being pulled right before an upcoming song release. The lead singer of the groupThe 502s chimed in to expresshis dismay with a silent video.
UK 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 includesAbbey 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?
TikTok has already started muting videos using UMG music. This 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 Grouppulled out of their licensing contract with YouTube, removing all music videos from the platform before renewing their contract nine months later.
Hopefully, TikTok will followSpotifyandApple 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.
