| Jordan Rumsey, a TikTok creator with voluminous, crimped hair and a blue, Coogi-esque sweater on, was feeling quite distressed this week. "I don't know what I'm going to do," Rumsey said in a video. "Most of my content is me dancing to amazing '80s songs or me showing you guys some '80s songs that you should all listen to. Most of that music falls under UMG." She went on to list a bunch of 80s music legends, including Bon Jovi and Tears for Fears, who released songs under UMG. Moving forward, Rumsey explained, all of her videos featuring such tracks will be muted, and she'll have to start moving her content over to YouTube, while also figuring out a new TikTok strategy. She's hardly alone. After Universal Music Group and TikTok's licensing negotiations collapsed this week, UMG-owned music started vanishing from the platform yesterday, casting TikTok users into chaos. Overnight, millions of videos were muted. Across the app, dancers now twerk in silence. Jokes are delivered without a punchline. With much of TikTok feeling stripped of its essence, various factions of the app have found themselves at a loss for what this might mean for them and their channels. Fans are especially distraught. Swifties, a popular and hyperactive constituency on the app, are wondering aloud what they'll post and bond over now that all of Taylor Swift's tracks have disappeared. Already, some are turning to bootleg versions of Swift songs or other, legitimate renditions, like a recording of Mean performed by the cast of Glee. The same dilemma is upsetting super fans of Ariana Grande, Hozier, Billie Eilish, Lana Del Rey and on and on. Meanwhile, certain UMG artists have also begun posting about the missing songs. "I currently have a song going super viral in China," said Cody Fry, a country artist signed to UMG. Recently, his song Things You Said has been gaining steam on the platform. "So, I'm feeling incredible," he added, describing the mood when going viral. "This is everything you hope for as an artist." For all the fans and creators currently trying to use it now, though, the song is no longer available. "I feel like I'm a person standing between two colliding planets," he added. "It's just hard — as a hard-working artist — to see a budding, viral trend with one of your songs that's really awesome, in its infancy, just, like, get crushed by multi-billion dollar corporations." Other performers are expressing similar worries. Noah Kahan, a breakout star (thanks to a big assist from TikTok) and Grammy nominee for Best New Artist, posted a PSA saying his new song Forever would be muted. To know when it's available, he explained, people should pre-save it on their preferred streaming app. Dean Lewis, an Australian artist, published a similar message, saying he had a new song dropping today and that fans on TikTok should seek it out elsewhere. If you're reading this newsletter, you already know that TikTok has become a critical marketing vehicle for artists and songs, often driving broader consumption on streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music. But with the advent of this standoff and neither company blinking, we'll now get to see who needs each other more – UMG or TikTok. Or, perhaps, whether this ends up being more akin to mutually assured destruction. As Music Business Worldwide points out, what we're seeing today is only the start of what could become a far more devastating blow to TikTok and fans. So far, only UMG's recorded side of the business has been impacted. Keep in mind that its publishing group, UMPG, reps many artists who are also signed to other labels. This includes mega-stars like Adele, for example, who works with Sony Music to release records but is signed to UMPG for her publishing. A source for Music Business Worldwide estimates that up to 80% of "all relevant music streaming content" could get taken down if UMG and TikTok don't reach an agreement soon. Yikes. For now, both sides are tossing out dueling statements. From UMG: "Ultimately TikTok is trying to build a music-based business, without paying fair value for the music." From TikTok: "It is sad and disappointing that Universal Music Group has put their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters." For all the doomsday scenarios lighting up social media, one group of people do see a flicker of opportunity in the mass upheaval — specifically, independent artists. There are already lots of videos popping up imploring TikTok denizens to use this dearth of superstar soundtracks to test out new music and to discover some budding musicians. If the dispute drags on long enough, these new artists just might get their shot at viral fame. | 
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