TikTok says it has removed all music from Universal Music Group

Olivia Rodrigo performs in concert during a taping of the “Austin City Limits” TV show at ACL Live on Oct. 2, 2021, in Austin, Texas.

Amy Harris/Invision/AP

TikTok says it has removed all music by artists licensed to Universal Music Group, including Taylor Swift, BTS, Drake and Olivia Rodrigo.

“We started the removal late last night Pacific Time, Jan 31st, as we approached the deadline of the [UMG/TikTok] license expiration,” a TikTok spokesperson told NPR in an email.

In addition to removal of music, “videos containing music licensed by Universal have been muted.”

In an open letter, UMG argued, among other things, that TikTok wasn’t compensating its artists fairly and allowed 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.” You can read UMG’s full letter here.

As UMG points out, TikTok’s colossal success “has been built in large part on the music created” by artists and songwriters. In turn, emerging artists have used the platform to launch their careers.

At least one UMG artist isn’t happy his songs have been removed. In a video posted to the platform, Grammy nominee Noah Kahan says, “I won’t be able to promote my music on TikTok anymore. But luckily I’m not a TikTok artist, right?”

Kahan is signed to Republic Records, a subsidiary of UMG, but credits TikTok with his success. Fans on the platform turned excerpts of his songs into viral sensations. Kahan is nominated in the Best New Artist category at this year’s Grammys.

Leading up to Jan. 31, when their contract expired, negotiations between social media giant TikTok and the world’s largest music company had intensified as they…