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Swifties can say goodbye to Taylor Swift‘s songs on TikTok as Universal Music Group pulls all their licensed songs from the platform. Early on Wednesday, UMG announced plans to pull all its tracks from the social platform before the day runs its cause. They attributed their decision to fallout in negotiations, alleging that their decision stemmed from a lack of adequate compensation for the artists and TikTok’s stance on AI.
Universal Music Group Pulls Taylor Swift’s Songs, Others From TikTok
Notably, the company, one of the big three in music confirmed earlier that its licensing agreement with TikTok expires on Wednesday, January 31. However, negotiations for a new contract have yielded naught. In their public statement, Universal Music Group which licenses artists like Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, and Adele among others, revealed TikTok proposed paying artists only a fraction of what other platforms pay for their songs. Their refusal to allow such inappropriate compensation for artists prompted TiTok to resort to bullying. The statement continued,
“TikTok attempted to bully us into accepting a deal worth less than the previous deal, far less than fair market value and not reflective of their exponential growth.”
One act of intimidation TikTok employed was selectively removing less popular songs by developing artists in favor of tracks from global stars like Taylor Swift. That way, they hoped to gain the upper hand, ultimately intimidating Universal Group into “conceding to the bad deal.” Universal refused to give in, insisting TikTok meet the three main objectives of their contract: Appropriate artist compensation, protecting artists from the harmful effects of AI, and cyber safety for TikTok users.
TikTok Fires Back
Hours later, TikTok released its response to the Universal Group’s claims, tagging it as “sad and disappointing.” The platform pointed out that the failed negotiations only resulted from UMG’s desire to put their “greed above the interest of their artists and songwriters.” The statement continued,
“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.”
Amid their negotiations and back-and-forth allegations, billions of music fans who utilize TikTok are caught in between. Many of Taylor Swift’s fans have kicked against the impending removal of her songs and others from TikTok. However, the outcome of negotiations rests solely with the two giants involved. Until then, now’s a great time for TikTokers to bid the final farewell to iconic songs by Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, BTS, Eminem, Justin Bieber, and Lady Gaga among other USG-licensed artists.
