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Universal Music Group threatens to pull song catalog from TikTok in furious open letter


UMG said it will remove all songs from TikTok after it accused the social media platform of trying to ‘bully’ them into ‘a bad deal’ over music rights fees

TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, is a social media app that allows users to make short-form videos, the majority of which are soundtracked with sound effects and licensed music. UMG’s dominance over popular music cannot be overstated, with the company holding the rights to artists including the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Elton John, Drake, Sting, the Weeknd, Kendrick Lamar, SZA, Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Adele, U2, Coldplay, Post Malone and more. “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,” the company said.

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