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Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo Songs Vanish from TikTok as Licensing Battle With Universal Music Heats Up
Universal Music Group's catalog of hits has been removed from TikTok a day after the company criticized the platform's proposal for a new deal.
The removals started gradually late Wednesday evening; The official versions of UMG-owned recordings like Taylor Swift ‘s “Cruel Summer,” Olivia Rodrigo ‘s “Get Him Back,” and Lana Del Rey’s “Let the Light In” are no longer appearing in search results, while some videos featuring the songs — like a Kylie Jenner post set to Del Rey’s “Cherry” and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s video that was soundtracked to Rick Ross’s “Hustlin'” being muted. “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,” TikTok said. Over the past five years, TikTok has become the most influential marketing tool in the music industry, launching up-and-coming artists’ careers, turning viral songs into bonafide hits, and pushing older catalog tracks back to the top of the Billboard charts.
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