TikTok removes all songs related to Universal Music
Tracks written by songwriters who have signed a contract with Universal will disappear from the platform.
TikTok and Universal Music Group (UMG) are in a fight over copyright. This conflict began when the two companies failed to agree on royalty payments. This resulted in a problem called “divided copyright”. The bottom line is that if at least one author associated with Universal Music has ever contributed to any song, it should be removed from TikTok.
In early February, Universal Music removed the catalogs of famous artists such as Taylor Swift, The Weeknd, and Billie Eilish from TikTok. In response, the platform started removing songs related to UMG. However, this affected not only music but also content creators. Even artists signed to Universal cannot promote their own music.
In their social media accounts, TikTok representatives stated that they were in the process of fulfilling UMG’s demands to remove all songs written (or co-written) by authors who had signed a contract with Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG).
According to TikTok, only 30% of popular songs on the platform were affected. However, some experts warn that more than 80% of the available songs may be removed. Universal Music has already removed about three million of its songs from TikTok, and another four million songs are on the verge of being removed.
