Today, when TikTok users open the app, they’ll find that many of their favorite artists’ music isn’t available on the platform. The dancers sway and sway without a beat. People lip-synced to remain silent.
TikTok confirmed on Thursday that it has removed and muted music by Universal artists from its library due to licensing disagreements between the platform and Universal Music Group, which distributes music by Playboi Carti, Taylor Swift, Drake, Ariana Grande and others Previously released videos using those songs.
Music from artists owned by Sony and Warner can still be found on TikTok. But that didn’t stop some users from announcing they were heading to rival platform Instagram Reels, while others poked fun at Universal’s absence by dancing to public domain songs. The dominant feeling is one of frustration: What’s the point of TikTok without people’s favorite melodies?
“A lot of trends are people getting millions of views on a video because of a piece of music,” said 22-year-old Myah Elliott, who noted that TikTok’s logo looks like Like a note. “It’s going to be muted. That’s a scary thought.
For more than two years, 21-year-old Evan Cronin has posted a video showing his morning routine on the first of every month, racking up millions of views. Around midnight on Thursday, he released the latest in the series to the beat of Playboi Carti’s “Sky.”
This time, there was virtually no interaction from the audience.
“This is essentially a dead post,” Cronin said.
People who used the app to listen to their favorite songs or discover new artists expressed disappointment after TikTok removed Universal Music. Others have publicly expressed concerns about the detrimental impact on emerging global artists who rely on TikTok for promotion.
Canadian artist Shawn Desman explained to his fans why his videos were muted and lamented that he can no longer share his music via TikTok.
“This is an important tool for us to promote ourselves, our music and our creations,” Desman says in the video. “Now we won’t be able to use our music, which is really crazy to me.”
The sudden silence of Universal Music’s catalog has also left TikTok content creators worried and angry. John Casterline, who has 3.5 million TikTok followers, said at least 10% of his videos are muted, causing a sharp drop in views. He considered turning to YouTube.
“Once TikTok mutes a video, they obviously don’t push it to the ‘For You’ page,” Castlin, 20, said of the app’s algorithm-based recommendation sources. “Everything just completely stopped. So it definitely took a huge hit on my account.
