In an attempt to save its artists from having their music be exploited on TikTok, Universal Music Group (UMG) has made a decision that will likely have massive negative impacts on its artists’ music promotion abilities and ultimately harm both the artist and the label. While initially this seemed like the wrong choice, and while I maintain that the announcement should have been made earlier, the choice may just be the right one for its artists after reading UMG’s and TikTok’s statements.

UMG released a public statement on Jan. 30 titled “An Open Letter to the Artist and Songwriter Community: Why We Must Call Time Out on TikTok.” Just two days before their contract was set to lapse, the label announced that on Feb. 1, they will remove all of their artists’ music from TikTok.

UMG is an enormous label, encompassing many of the biggest names of both past and present. In the pop realm, UMG signs Taylor Swift (“Midnights”), Bad Bunny (“Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana”), Ariana Grande (“yes, and?”), Adele (“30”), SZA (“SOS”), Billie Eilish (“What Was I Made For?”) and Harry Styles (“Harry’s House”). Beyond pop, UMG also has U2 (“Atomic City”), Sting (“The Bridge”), Coldplay (“Music of the Spheres”), Irving Berlin (“White Christmas”) and Danny Elfman (“Big Mess”), for example.

TikTok has blown up with reactions from both fans and artists. Some joke about the decision while others take a more serious tone.

“Yeah, I mean my career is over for sure,” Conan Gray (“Superache”) said in an interview with Rolling Stone at the Grammys. “I’m never gonna have a hit song ever again at this rate.”

Though Gray’s initial statement may not be entirely wrong, the decision could be a career-impacting choice for many of the artists under the label.

“Since UMG removed all of Taylor Swift’s music from this platform I suppose the Glee Cast Version of “Mean” is all we’re left with!” joked @notolsennchris on TikTok.

“I think there’s gonna be a lot of interesting a capella covers happening from UMG artists until this is settled,” Gray said similarly.

While the implications of future videos are obvious, what is not evident is the fact that with all of UMG’s music removed, TikTok has muted videos posted prior to the music being pulled down, impacting past videos as well.

For artists with names this big, several of their songs have been part of specific TikTok trends. This will essentially obliterate these trends from the TikTok archives.

“In our contract renewal discussions, we have been pressing [TikTok] on three critical issues—appropriate compensation for our artists and songwriters, protecting human artists from the harmful effects of AI, and online safety for TikTok’s users,” UMG stated in the initial press release. The label explores these three points throughout the statement.

“With respect to the issue of artist and songwriter compensation, TikTok proposed paying our artists and songwriters at a rate that is a fraction of the rate that similarly situated major social platforms pay,” UMG stated.

UMG’s removal of music seems more like a boycott of the platform intending to provoke change from TikTok’s executives. While in theory, this seems like a great idea, TikTok will not likely make any changes unless they see either a massive dip in users or more record labels make a similar decision to allow their contracts to lapse. As powerful as they are, UMG alone is not enough to push this change.

Social media is a creative space. TikTokers have always found a way to get what they want done. Truth be told, there is such a large amount of music that is still available to TikTokers. They probably will not feel much pain. Users have already used “Glee” audios to comedically address the decision.

Even the artists are joking about it. OneRepublic (“Mirage”) posted a concert video dubbed with a terrible cover of “Counting Stars” with the caption “all of our videos now because our music is gone.”

“Is it bad that I didn’t even know my music was deleted off of TikTok today?” JoJo Siwa (“Nonstop”) asked in a TikTok video.

In my debatably forgettable years of doom-scrolling TikTok, barring the writer’s strike, this is the first time that I recall so many artists making commentary and jokes about the exact same subject. Many artists will probably feel the same way about the subject—especially after seeing the potential negative impacts on their marketing techniques.

TikTok’s response to UMG’s statement was short and lackluster.

“It is sad and disappointing that Universal Music Group has put their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters,” the company said. “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.”

UMG justified the decision by mentioning the controversy over artificial intelligence.

“TikTok is allowing the platform to be flooded with AI-generated recordings—as well as developing tools to enable, promote and encourage AI music creation on the platform itself – and then demanding a contractual right which would allow this content to massively dilute the royalty pool for human artists, in a move that is nothing short of sponsoring artist replacement by AI,” UMG stated.

While TikTok may not be doing a perfect job of handling AI as a whole, they have added content notices at the bottoms of any video which includes AI-generated content. AI is relatively new territory on social media, especially since it has become so accessible to anyone with internet access.

From my experience, TikTok has actually done a better job of labeling their AI-generated content than other platforms. While UMG brings up a good point financially, and what they describe is unethical, I have never had trouble identifying AI content. As someone who values human expression, I scroll right past it nine times out of ten.

“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,” UMG explained later in the article. “How did it try to intimidate us?  By selectively removing the music of certain of our developing artists, while keeping on the platform our audience-driving global stars. TikTok’s tactics are obvious: use its platform power to hurt vulnerable artists and try to intimidate us into conceding to a bad deal that undervalues music and shortchanges artists and songwriters as well as their fans. We will never do that.”

TikTok’s representatives disagreed with that sentiment. 

“TikTok has been able to reach ‘artist-first’ agreements with every other label and publisher,” their statement reads. “Clearly, Universal’s self-serving actions are not in the best interests of artists, songwriters and fans.”

Both of these companies are absolutely massive corporations who create their revenue through artists and creators. The companies are not as different as they may seem upon reading their statements. Until we begin to hear from the artists in a more serious manner or other record labels join UMG in removing their music, we do not have any way, as outsiders, to know who is right.

I will always stand with what artists believe is best. If that is for the music to be restored to TikTok, great. If they believe that this has exposed a true ethical issue with their compensation, then I will stand by UMG’s decision. UMG is a powerful vehicle for forcing change, with many of the biggest names of today and of the past. If anyone can force this change, it is them.

Image from Pexels via cottonbro studio