Over the past few years, TikTok has solidified itself as one of the most popular and widely used apps globally. Its concept is not a new one– a collection of short- form videos that any user can interact with or create. However, the difference between TikTok and comparable apps in the past, such as Vine, is the incorporation of music. In its description in the App Store, TikTok advertises the ability to “easily edit your videos with millions of free music clips and sounds.” So, for an app that is known for and marketed as a music app, what happened to the music?
Historically, users could post videos with any song they wanted, either through the official song or a recording of it that they created. Now, the selection is noticeably limited, with many popular songs suddenly gone. Old videos using newly removed songs and sounds have now been muted, ruining millions of great videos. The change was so out of the blue that it led to confusion among many users of the TikTok app. Brianna Ho ‘24 states, “it’s really annoying and I’m not even sure why the sounds are being taken down.”
The types of sounds that have been taken down belong to Universal Music Group, the largest music company in the world. Many popular artists are under UMG, such as Taylor Swift, Drake, SZA, Steve Lacy, and Bad Bunny. On January 30, 2024, they published a statement titled “An Open Letter to the Artist and Songwriter Community – Why We Must Call Time Out on TikTok.” In it, they explain their negotiations with TikTok, and the many reasons why they decided their partnership was no longer beneficial. UMG had three major points of contention with TikTok– “appropriate compensation for [their] artists and songwriters, protecting human artists from the harmful effects of AI, and online safety for TikTok’s users.” They proceeded to elaborate on the ways TikTok failed to meet these standards, paying artists “a rate that is a fraction of the rate that similarly situated major social platforms pay,” encouraging the use of AI- generated music and sounds, and failing to sensor some harmful or triggering content.
The disagreement was further continued when TikTok responded to UMG with “intimidation” and “bully[ing],” offering a worse deal than they previously had. This solidified UMG’s decision to not renew their contract on January 31st, and thus, remove a large portion of the music on TikTok. They stated that they “recognize the challenges that TikTok’s actions will cause” but also refuse to accept TikTok’s lowballing and “threats.”
TikTok released a statement about UMG’s actions with a mere three paragraphs on their TikTok Newsroom website. They shared that UMG has “put their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters.” They chose not to discuss the details of their agreement that UMG had written about, but did claim that UMG had spread a “false narrative and rhetoric.”
While the loss of many songs on TikTok has sparked feelings of frustration, it has also brought about many funny videos. In response to the copyright restrictions, many TikTok editors and influencers have begun to upload their videos with copyright-free instrumental music as a joke or a way of protest. Some have even reuploaded their old muted videos with this music in the background, changing the mood of the video entirely.
While users of TikTok find a way to use humor to deal with such a drastic change, this new restriction is unfortunate for many artists under UMG. Due to TikTok’s incredible popularity, music that goes viral on TikTok often runs the charts, bringing new success to those artists. Yet, when those songs cannot be played over and over again on the app, many artists lose that opportunity and thus lose a source of income or recognition.
It is unclear whether the disagreement between TikTok and UMG will ever be resolved and all the muted videos will gain their audio back. Nonetheless, users and artists will find ways to adapt to this change and carry on.