WHAT THE HELL is going on, I’m scared: Swifties and NFL Fans are EXCITING after Taylor Swift deleted Fortnight on her Tiktok and YouTube, Taylor Nation also deleted their profile pictures on the platform

Universal Music Group, the world’s largest music company, recently announced that it would be pulling its music—including Taylor Swift, Drake, Olivia Rodrigo, Bad Bunny, and thousands of other artists—from TikTok because its license agreement was expiring and renewal talks had broken down.

The license expired on Wednesday, and TikTok has initiated steps to remove UMG-published music from its platform.

Does this mean that no songs by UMG’s artists and songwriters can be heard on TikTok videos now? Well, not really.

Is TikTok Removing Music?

If you post on TikTok, you can choose music for your video from TikTok’s catalog of songs, which includes millions of tracks from record labels and independent artists, which license their music to TikTok for use on the platform. UMG’s catalog is no longer part of that offering.

Yet you can also upload your own music or play music in the background while recording your video. When using your own music, TikTok requires you to agree that you have permission to use the music—that you created it yourself, you licensed it properly from the creators or the music is in the public domain. If you upload music to which you don’t have permission, then you’re violating TikTok’s terms of service.