Universal pulls its music from TikTok rival Triller

Selena Gomez, Billie Eilish and Jay-Z are among the artists signed to Universal Music

The world's largest record label, Universal Music, has removed all of its songs from the video sharing app Triller.

The company says Triller has "shamefully withheld payments owed to our artists" and refused to negotiate a licence to use the music legitimately.

Triller is a fast-growing rival to TikTok, and allows its users to create short videos, often set to music.

The LA-based company "categorically" denied it had been withholding money.

War of words

Universal's move appears to means that world-renowned artists like Rihanna, Billie Eilish, Selena Gomez, Lady Gaga, Jay-Z and Bob Marley will no longer appear on Triller's videos.

"We will not work with platforms that do not value artists," said Universal in a statement.

"Triller has shamefully withheld payments owed to our artists and refuses to negotiate a licence going forward. We have no alternative except to remove our music from Triller, effective immediately."

However, the social media site responded with a strongly-worded statement disputing the Universal Music Group's (UMG's) claims.

"We can confirm our deal with UMG expired approximately one week ago. We have been negotiating since then in an attempt to renew," a spokesperson said.

They went on to describe those negotiations as a "formality" and accused Universal of using its artists as "leverage" to extract "ridiculous and non-sustainable payments for themselves and not their artists".

"Triller does not need a deal with UMG to continue operating as it has been since the relevant artists are already shareholders or partners on Triller, and thus can authorise their usage directly," the statement continued.

It is unclear how many UMG artists have individual deals with Triller.

Past criticism

The social media app received a rush of publicity last year when the US threatened to ban TikTok, citing national security concerns.

Many of TikTok's biggest creators, including Charli D'Amelio and Noah Beck, created Triller accounts, and the app briefly topped the charts in Apple's App Store.

The platform, which actually pre-dates TikTok, has been criticised for its failure to pay musicians before.

Last year, the head of the US National Music Publishers' Association said Triller "boasts 'millions of songs at your fingertips', however many of those songs have not been properly licensed.

"The pattern of tech platforms asking for forgiveness instead of permission to use songwriter's work must stop. Triller must legitimise its business by properly licensing all music on its platform."