Artists like Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, Drake and Bob Dylan had their songs removed from TikTok on Thursday (1st).
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As a result, the video platform took action after failing to reach an agreement with Universal Music Group to renew licensing.
With that, the removal occurs shortly after the end of the old agreement, which expired on Wednesday (31). Recently, Universal Music accused TikTok of trying to intimidate the company into entering into an agreement worth less than the previous one – and claimed that the platform was unwilling to address issues of Artificial Intelligence and piracy.
In a statement, TikTok criticized “Universal’s false narrative and rhetoric” and said it is “sad and disappointing that Universal Music Group has placed its own greed above the interests of its artists and songwriters.”
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Without the agreement, all artists signed to UMG will be removed from the platform’s catalog and all videos containing music licensed by Universal will be muted.
If the companies are unable to reach a new agreement soon, TikTok will be forced to remove licensed content from Universal Music Publishing Group’s catalog as well.
In addition to the artists mentioned, names that are also part of UMG and had songs removed are Bad Bunny, Sting, The Weeknd, Alicia Keys, SZA, Steve Lacy, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar, Rosalía, Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Adele, U2 , Elton John, Coldplay, Pearl Jam, Bob Dylan and Post Malone.