On January 31, 2024, Universal Music Group (UMG), took all their artists’ music catalogs off of TikTok. The companies met to discuss negotiation and failed to agree.
The reason for UMG cutting ties with TikTok is due to artists being underpaid and not respected by TikTok. UMG controls many of the biggest labels, including Republic Records. People are now wondering if there will ever be a re-signing but that looks unlikely as of now. Users worry that their app experience will now be worse and are wondering how it will affect them.
Trend Impact
Users feel the app has lost many chances for artists to gain popularity through the platform. Many music artists in the past few years have attempted to use TikTok to get their big break. TikTok acts as a way for trends to spread and artists to gain popularity. A good amount of songs on the radio are by artists who went viral through the platform. Even if an artist is already large, trends can give millions of more streams on a song.
Before, the possibilities were endless, but now there seems to be a limit. Jeff Schrier, a regular user of TikTok said, “When I look at the app now, I feel many opportunities have been taken away”
Past and Present Effects
Another concern is with influencers and people trying to get a start and become a viral star. Creators feel as though TikTok removing songs has shrunk their creative options. This change will affect small creators as they can’t use popular artists to gain more views anymore.
Brianna Mathias, who has 1.4 million views and 207k likes on the platform, told us, “The loss of sound is going to be a large problem for creators and creative ideas.”
This event has also caused old videos to have their sound removed. With the range of UMG’s catalog, videos on every side of the platform are silent. Some of the most viral videos now appear boring.
Mathias added, “When I try to scroll TikTok, so many audios have been taken away, leading to silent videos on every page.”
The Return
People of TikTok are now wondering if these songs will ever return. As of now, there are no plans of there ever being a new contract, especially due to the contract ending on bad terms. If the companies were to work together again things would change. The contract would most likely put artist pay and efforts first.
When we asked Mathias if she had hopes of UMG’s catalog ever returning to TikTok she said, “I do hope the music returns. The artists whose catalogs have been wiped out include many household names, like Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande. I feel like the wiping of this music will severely impact trends and virality.”
Users, creators, and artists alike will wait to see how this will affect artists’ careers in the future. We will see if UMG decides to bring its catalog back to the TikTok space in the future. now remain quiet. With the removal of the catalog, any past videos don’t make any sense
