This is due to the breakdown of license renegotiations between Universal Music Group, which manages the music licenses of these artists, and TikTok.
On January 1st (local time), The New York Times reported that negotiations between Universal Music and TikTok, involving the music copyrights of hundreds of artists, had collapsed, stating, “Universal Music has left TikTok.”
Both parties could not narrow down their differences on content usage fees. Universal Music publicly criticized TikTok on December 31st, saying, “TikTok is not willing to pay a fair value for music usage.”
TikTok responded by accusing Universal Music of prioritizing their greed over the interests of artists and songwriters, stating, “They are acting beyond the powerful platform support provided by over a billion users for free promotion.”
Music by artists under Universal Music, including BTS, BLACKPINK, Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, Ariana Grande, Drake, and others, now comes with a notice on TikTok stating ‘audio muted due to copyright issues.’ Videos using their music are played in mute mode.
The impact is expected to be significant as Universal Music represents renowned pop artists, and the exact number of videos affected by the breakdown in negotiations has not been disclosed by TikTok. The New York Times predicted that the number of affected videos, given the inclusion of many famous artists’ music, could reach millions.
