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Earlier this year, Universal Music Group, the world’s largest record company, pulled its entire catalog from TikTok when the two companies couldn’t reach a licensing agreement. Soon afterward, UMG also removed its music publishing songs from the app, which really limited the music that could pop up in TikTok videos, though some users responded by using sped-up or slowed-down versions of Universal tracks. But now, UMG has announced that they’ve reached a new licensing agreement with TikTok, which means all that music is back up on the service.
In a press release this morning, Universal said that the company and TikTok have reached “a new multi-dimensional licensing agreement that will deliver significant industry-leading benefits for UMG’s global family of artists, songwriters and labels and will return their music to TikTok’s billion-plus global community.” The two companies are also working to “realize new monetization opportunities utilizing TikTok’s growing e-commerce capabilities.”
Last month, ahead of the release of Taylor Swift’s new album The Tortured Poets Department, Swift reached a special deal for her own music to appear on TikTok. Swift’s label Republic is part of UMG, but she might’ve reached that deal on her own, since she owns her own masters. Last week, Joe Biden signed a bill ensuring that TikTok will be banned in the US unless ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, divests its ownership stake in the app within 270 days.