As a royalty dispute with Universal songs Group (UMG) rages on, TikTok is being compelled to remove additional songs off its platform. Recently, UMG removed songs off TikTok that it distributes or owns, including hits by celebrities like The Weeknd, Taylor Swift, and Billie Eilish. The impasse is currently affecting UMG published music.
“We are in the process of carrying out Universal Music Group’s requirement to remove all songs that have been written (or co-written) by a songwriter signed to Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG), based on information they have provided,” TikTok stated in a statement. “Their actions not only affect the songwriters and artists that they represent, but now also impact many artists and songwriters not signed to universal.” In addition, TikTok reiterated its commitment to “reaching an equitable agreement” with UMG.
Due to an issue called split copyrights, if a UMPG-contracted writer has contributed to a song in any way, that track has to be removed from TikTok. So artists who have collaborated with the likes of Swift, Adele, Justin Bieber, Mariah Carey, Ice Spice, Elton John, Harry Styles and SZA will see their songs disappearing from TikTok and being muted on videos that currently use them. The move will prevent more artists from plugging their work on the most important platform for promoting music.
According to the BBC, UMG removed around three million songs from TikTok after an agreement over its recording catalog expired. UMG’s deal with TikTok over its publishing catalog (which covers some four million songs) ends later this week, at which point all relevant tracks will have vanished from the short-form video service.
