It would appear that social media platform (and, let’s be honest, lifestyle choice) TikTok has lost a pretty big chunk of music. This comes after the company failed to reach a deal with Universal Music Group for licensing songs by artists under the label. This includes Taylor Swift, Drake, and numerous others.
The deadline was January 31st.
Songs from Universal Music Group artists are now no longer available, and have been removed from previously posted content.
“Today, as an indication of how little TikTok compensates artists and songwriters, despite its massive and growing user base, rapidly rising advertising revenue and increasing reliance on music-based content, TikTok accounts for only about 1% of our total revenue,” Universal Music said in the open letter.
“It is sad and disappointing that Universal Music Group has put their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters,” TikTok said in response. “Despite Universal’s false narrative and rhetoric, the fact is they have 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.”
We’ll let you know if a deal is ever reached.
