Universal Music Group and TikTok to Jointly Remove Unauthorized AI-Generated Music

According to foreign media reports, Universal Music Group and TikTok have jointly announced an updated licensing agreement. The two parties will collaborate to remove unauthorized AI-generated music from the platform and improve the attribution mechanisms for artists and songwriters.

The agreement extends their previous commitments regarding AI protection, supporting human creativity and ensuring that platform revenues effectively flow to artists and songwriters. Both sides will subsequently coordinate efforts to remove unauthorized AI music and further refine creator attribution rules.

The implementation of this agreement also marks a significant turning point in their relationship. In 2024, tensions escalated between the two parties over issues related to AI music copyrights. Universal Music, citing TikTok's inadequate handling of AI-generated music and related copyright concerns, temporarily removed its catalog from the TikTok platform, causing numerous popular tracks to disappear from user-created videos. Over the past several years, Universal Music has also been actively pushing for stricter content moderation rules across major platforms, streaming services, and AI companies.

In recent years, the music industry has continuously faced challenges from the influx of AI-generated content. A large number of AI tools capable of imitating the voices of famous singers or fabricating songs have emerged. Some AI songs mimicking well-known artists like Drake and The Weeknd garnered millions of plays before being taken down, raising widespread concern within the industry. Currently, the European Union has tightened regulatory requirements for AI-generated content, and several U.S. states have successively followed suit with similar rules, putting pressure on major platforms to establish more standardized frameworks for AI content governance.

TikTok has previously signaled to the music industry on multiple occasions that the platform can generate substantial revenue for artists and rights holders. In 2025, it also launched the 'TikTok for Artists' data insights tool to help artists optimize their promotional activities while opening up related data to record companies.