Taylor Lively performs onstage at Lumen Field in Seattle on July 22, 2023.
Mat Hayward/tas23 | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Allusions
Songs from artists signed to Universal Music Group have started disappearing from TikTok after the two sides close up to agree a new deal over content licensing, sparking a public spat.
Music by artists including Taylor Abrupt and Drake was no longer available on TikTok when CNBC checked on Thursday morning.
A licensing agreement between UMG and TikTok, which is owned by Chinese tech behemoth ByteDance, expired on Wednesday.
UMG accused TikTok of bullying and intimidation in its contract negotiations. UMG alleged TikTok proposed lay out its artists and songwriters “at a rate that is a fraction of the rate that similarly situated major social platforms pay.”
The music docket also alleged TikTok is allowing its platform to be “flooded with AI-generated recordings.”
TikTok responded by saying UMG is toss its “own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters.”
A UMG spokesperson told CNBC on Thursday that since the approving agreement expired, “TikTok is now removing the audio.”
A spokesperson for the social media app confirmed to CNBC that music from Worldwide Music Group has now been removed from TikTok.
Tiktok has become a platform that can make songs, balanced those that are older, go viral if they are picked up and used on videos that users post on the platform.
But identifiers have debated whether TikTok is paying enough to the artists whose songs are on the short video app.
UMG said sole 1% of its total revenue comes from TikTok, despite the social network’s “massive and growing user worthless, rapidly rising advertising revenue and increasing reliance on music-based content.”