Universal Music Group (UMG) has begun removing the music catalogs of performers it represents from TikTok, including Taylor Swift, Drake and Olivia Rodrigo. 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 "terrible deal" that did not address record labels' concerns about adequate compensation for artists and songwriters, protections for AI-generated music and online safety on the platform to protect artists from "hate speech, bigotry, bullying and harassment."
TikTok responded strongly, saying it was "disappointing" that UMG "chose to abandon the strong support of a platform with more than 1 billion users" and accused the record company of "putting its own greed before the interests of artists and songwriters."
Now, UMG's music appearing in TikTok videos will be muted. If users want to replace the removed tracks, they need to choose replacement options from other music labels.