XP News: UMG Pulls All Its Songs From TikTok Including Its MENA Roster

Over the past two weeks, an ongoing conflict has emerged between the giant recording company Universal Music Group and social media platform TikTok. UMG issued an open letter to artists and songwriters, explaining why they "must call time out on TikTok," citing the platform's failure to provide appropriate compensation for artists and songwriters and to safeguard them from the detrimental effects of AI.

Universal Music Group, known for releasing music by some of the biggest names on the planet such as Drake, Taylor Swift, and U2, has opted not to renew its agreement with TikTok. Consequently, all music from UMG's artists and catalog has been removed from the platform, resulting in many videos going silent with a notice stating, "Sound removed due to copyright restrictions."

TikTok responded to Universal's actions by releasing a statement asserting that, despite Universal's claims, they have chosen to walk away from a platform with well over a billion users, which serves as a free promotional and discovery tool for their talent.

As the conflict between the two companies persists, Universal Music MENA is also impacted, with all artists from the Middle East and North Africa signed to UMG MENA having their music removed from the platform. Abo El Anwar, the superstar Egyptian rapper signed to UMG MENA, expressed his confusion over the removal of sound from his videos in a TikTok video released earlier this week. Other regional artists, including Ahmad Santa, Idreesi, and Slyver PV, have also had their music removed from the platform.