Universal Music cites non-payment, removes its tracks from TikTok rival Triller: Report

TikTok may still be banned in the country, but the market is buzzing with hundreds of alternatives that offer a similar software experience - short videos usually accompanied by music tracks. However, one upcoming alternative app called Triller has allegedly failed to pay artists that made the music, causing global record label Universal Music Group to remove all its songs from the platform, according to a report.

According to a news report by the BBC, Universal Music claims that the social media app had “shamefully withheld payments” to their artists and refused to work out a deal that would allow them to lawfully provide the music to users on its platform. The label had stated that they would not work with platforms that “do not value artists”, the report states.

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The removal of all of Universal Music’s content from the platform means Triller users would miss out on tracks from Selena Gomez, Taylor Swift, Kanye West, Lana Del Ray, Rihanna, Jay Z, Adele, One Direction, Billie Eilish, and several others whose tracks are regularly used for the ‘viral’ short video format.

However, Triller has reportedly denied the allegations made by Universal Music, and stated that the deal with the record label had ended recently, and that UMG was using its artists as “leverage” during the negotiations to renew the deal. "We can confirm our deal with UMG expired approximately one week ago. We have been negotiating since then in an attempt to renew," the company told the BBC.

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We have previously reported that TikTok was embroiled in a patent struggle with Triller, where the China based social media app has been accused of infringing on a patent owned by Triller. The latest development will no doubt have an impact on the platform, with several content creators unable to use popular tracks by some of the most well known artists on the music charts today.