The dispute between TikTok and Universal Music is escalating

More and more TikToks are feeling like they belong in the silent film era. Universal Music Group, the world's largest music company, exercised its so-called “nuclear option” with TikTok this week, expanding the list of songs that can’t legally be used on the social media platform.

Universal Music Group – which represents Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Bad Bunny, Olivia Rodrigo, and more – pulled all of its artists’ music from TikTok in January due to a contract dispute. This week’s move extends that ban to any song that includes a writing credit from one of Universal’s songwriters – which, much like the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs, could have a huge impact.

• A top hit can sometimes have more than 10 songwriters from multiple publishers. And if even one songwriter on a track is signed to Universal, it’ll have to be removed from TikTok. This could affect 80% of the current hits across Universal, Warner Music Group, Sony Music Group, and independent labels, by some estimates.
• TikTok’s own estimates downplay the impact, indicating that 20%–30% of popular songs used on the app would be silenced.

Behind the scenes: Universal doesn’t expect a negative financial impact from the contract dispute, in part because TikTok only represents ~1% of its annual revenue. TikTok, on the other hand, is reportedly encouraging creators to post more photo content instead of videos.

• Last year, 85% of videos on TikTok contained music, according to content identification technology and data firm Pex. And that figure is trending upward.

👀 Looking ahead… TikTok recently presented an updated contract proposal to Universal, which rejected it, per the Wall Street Journal. Discussions reportedly haven’t progressed since.

In the meantime, many artists and TikTok creators are finding workarounds – just peep Ariana Grande’s silent promotion for her newly released single featuring Mariah Carey.