No more Taylor Swift on TikTok after negotiations with label break down

Enlarge

Universal Music is set to pull its songs from TikTok after a breakdown in negotiations over payment, which would remove the social media platform’s access to music from stars such as Taylor Swift, The Weeknd, and Drake.

Universal, the industry giant that controls a third of the world’s music, has been in tense negotiations with Beijing-based TikTok for the past year, according to people familiar with the matter.

Universal on Tuesday accused TikTok of “bullying” and said the company wanted to pay a “fraction” of the rate that other social media sites pay for access to its music catalog. As a result, Universal said it would stop licensing its content to TikTok when its contract expires on January 31.