TikTok just locked in Universal Music for years to come

Remember when TikTok went silent for three months because Taylor Swift, Drake and half of Spotify's top 50 vanished overnight. That was the last time Universal Music Group and TikTok fell out, and nobody wants a repeat.

Good news for anyone whose For You Page is 90 percent sound bites: that won't be happening again any time soon. TikTok and Universal Music Group have just signed a new multi-year global licensing deal, announced on 22 May, locking in the label's entire catalogue for years to come.

A quick recap for the newer scrollers. Back in January 2024, UMG pulled its catalogue from TikTok after the two sides couldn't agree on a new contract. UMG's complaints were pretty blunt: low pay for artists and not enough protection against AI generated music flooding the platform. For three months, songs from Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, The Weeknd, Drake and Lady Gaga disappeared from the app, and a chunk of TikTok's sound library went eerily quiet. They patched things up in May 2024, and this new deal builds on that truce.

This time round, the headline addition is money. UMG artists and songwriters get access to ecommerce tools and "artist centric" features through TikTok Shop, plus expanded marketing and advertising campaigns. Translation: there are more direct ways for musicians to turn a viral 15 second clip into actual income, not just streaming numbers and exposure.

The deal also doubles down on AI protections, with both companies promising to remove unauthorised AI generated music and improve how artists and songwriters get credited. Given how messy AI generated tracks have made the music industry over the past couple of years, that's not a small detail.

For creators, the upshot is simple. The sounds you have been building entire content calendars around are staying put, and the artists behind them are getting a slightly fairer slice of the pie when their song becomes the backdrop to a million duets.

So next time a no name track turns into the soundtrack of your group chat, remember there is now a slightly better chance the artist behind it actually gets paid for the privilege. Add it to your playlist, not just your drafts.