Failure to Renew Licensing Agreements Results in Mass Removal of Music from TikTok
This month, users of the popular social media platform TikTok found many once accessible and popular songs removed without a trace. Some estimate that roughly 30% of the platform’s music has been removed. The reason is due to a feud over TikTok’s licensing agreement with Universal Music Group.
What does all of this come down to? Royalties. Universal Music Group claims TikTok isn’t paying enough for the songs being played on the app.
That is why earlier this month Universal Music Group removed any songs owned or distributed by Universal Music Group from the app. On Tuesday, songs published by Universal Music Group also began to be removed from the platform. A wider range of industry professionals are affected by this change, which has resulted in a much larger number of songs taken down from the platform.
Songwriters can write songs for artists across a wide variety of labels, so songs from other major labels could be subject to removal if a Universal Music Group writer wrote or collaborated on the song. Even artists who have collaborated with songwriters under contract with Universal Music Publishing Group have been affected by the removal of songs published by the label.
One example of an artist affected by the most recent removal is “No Interruptions” singer Hoodie Allen. In a TikTok video posted to his account @hoodieallen this Wednesday, the singer stated “Yesterday was a tough day for me . . . I opened up the app to find almost all of my sounds were muted for copyright reasons.” The singer states he was surprised because he owns all of his music and has almost always self-published. According to his statement, the removal from TikTok was because he collaborated with an artist who later signed a publishing deal for their music with Universal.
Songs have two copyrights. One copyright is for the song’s specific recording, which is controlled by the music labels. The other copyright is for the song’s lyrics and composition, which is controlled by the music publisher.
Despite Universal Music Group’s stated drive to push for greater revenue, it is hard to ignore that artists and songwriters no longer have access to a free platform to promote their music while also being able to collect royalties. The two companies are seemingly pointing the finger at one another. Universal Music Group claims TikTok is trying to avoid paying fair value for the music, while TikTok claims Universal Music Group’s stated reason is pretextual–accusing the label of putting its own greed above the interests of its artists and songwriters.
Regardless of which company is to “blame,” artists on major labels and independent artists alike will continue to be affected until the two companies work it out. Time will tell whether Universal Music Group and TikTok will feel the pressure to strike a deal. Stay tuned for more on how this story unfolds.
Xoxo, Tessquire
Tessquire 