TikTok turned against its former cooperation partner Universal Music Group (UMG) overnight after the world’s largest music copyright owner threatened to remove all of the music it owns from the video-sharing platform, which lambasted UMG’s “self-serving actions” and characterized them as putting their interests above those of artists, songwriters, and fans. Why it matters: The dispute would reportedly also affect TikTok sibling Douyin, potentially causing both platforms to have to remove Universal songs from the huge number of videos using them as background music. The falling out with UMG may also lead to a similar response from other music companies. Details: The collapse of the deal would likely remove the pop songs that myriad TikTok videos use as background music, affecting tracks by Universal artists including Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish, as well as Chinese language singers Stefanie Sun and Eason Chan. In 2014, Taylor Swift decided to remove her entire discography from Spotify due to issues around royalty payments, with her boycott of the streaming service lasting three years.