Music could soon disappear from TikTok

Do you remember when Italian songs disappeared from Instagram? Meta and SIAE had to reach an agreement to allow users and creators to regain access to the complete music library on Instagram. It was a moment of panic not only for those who used to work with the social platform but also for those who, just for fun, used to accompany their Instagram stories with the latest trendy tunes. The same situation could arise on TikTok, and it's natural that the news could generate even more buzz: before June 27, 2018, TikTok was called musical.ly and aimed to incorporate music and videos into a single platform. Even today, TikTok makes music one of its most interesting features, thanks to millions of users making dances, lip-syncs, and much more go viral.

Through an open letter published on its website, the renowned record label Universal Music Group stated that it might withdraw the entire catalog of songs made available on TikTok, of which it naturally holds the rights. This could happen as the two parties failed to reach a new licensing agreement; the current one is expiring on January 31. Three years ago, Universal and TikTok had entered into an agreement allowing the use of Universal's songs in videos posted on the social platform. Under this deal, the platform committed to paying a fee to the record label. If the agreement is not renewed, the songs can no longer be used in videos, and they will be removed from the music catalog available to TikTok users.

According to the statements in Universal's release, TikTok failed to meet the demands of the Dutch-American label. The former requested higher royalties for artists and greater protection due to the advent of artificial intelligence in the music industry. TikTok's response to Universal's accusations came swiftly: Universal Music Group would be the only record label not to accept the contract renewal. We can predict that Universal will give in to the contract renewal to avoid dissatisfaction from its extensive roster of artists, including Kendrick Lamar, Post Malone, SZA, The Weeknd, and Alicia Keys. While waiting to resolve the issue with Universal, TikTok is experimenting with a new feature that would allow verified creators, through the introduction of new technology, to add a link to buy the products shown in their videos: despite being an "early test," TikTok is currently in a moment full of changes.