Universal Music has Silenced TikTok, Literally

TikTok has had most of the music available on their platform silenced in cold blood by Universal Music Group one of the biggest, if not the biggest, record label in the industry. Upon reaching the end of their prior contract with TikTok, they decided to terminate the contract all together. 

Music from big names such as Drake, Lady Gaga, Billie Eilish, The Weeknd, and even The Beatles, has been completely removed from TikTok. UMG claimed in an open letter, that one of their reasons for removing the music is that “TikTok proposed paying our artists and songwriters at a rate that is a fraction of the rate that similarly situated major social platforms pay.”                            

It’s a known fact that TikTok doesn’t pay the creators on their platform well so, it wasn’t surprising that they aren’t willing to pay accordingly for music rights. However, TikTok aren’t the only ones who benefit from having UMG music rights. Many UMG artists have songs turn into hits due to TikTok dances, trends, or viral videos. 

Although TikTok isn’t directly bringing in major profits for UMG, the audience that can be gained on the platform is remarkable. Also, UMG’s reasoning is debatable seeing that their artists weren’t aware of their decision to remove the songs in the first place.

Grammy nominee Noah Kahan, uploaded a video on TikTok knowing that is a place where a majority of his supporters will be active. He expressed his concerns in the video saying, “I won’t be able to promote my music on TikTok anymore. But luckily I’m not a TikTok artist, right?” 

On one hand, TikTok’s pay rate is unreasonably low as UMG claims to want better compensation for their artists, yet negatively impact them with this nuclear decision. Truly, I wonder which of the two will break first!