After Universal Music Group’s licensing deal with TikTok expired, users are coping with the platform’s loss of songs by artists like Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande by choreographing dances and creating fan edits set to everything from bizarre royalty-free jingles to music from Nintendo’s Wii Sports.
TikTok users were quick to mock the disappearance of music from the platform: One user danced and lip-synced to nothing, with his awkward breaths and footsteps audible, and another user who posts videos ranking songs posted a satirical ranking of the “top 5 songs of Universal Music,” all of which are just silence.
Others have satirically created dances to songs by Kevin MacLeod, a composer who makes royalty-free music—including the silly-sounding jingles “Fluffing a Duck” and “Monkeys Spinning Monkeys,” which has long been viral on TikTok.
TikTok creator Niana Guerrero posted a video dancing to “Fluffing a Duck,” which quickly accumulated 11 million likes, and other dances to the jingle have also been liked millions of times. Plenty of users latched on to the “Fluffing a Duck” jokes, which has prompted users to create a viral Jersey club remix and a guitar cover—which have, in turn, inspired their own TikTok dances.
Other bizarre videos posted by users attempting to create content without using songs by UMG-signed artists include a fan edit of Cillian Murphy in “Peaky Blinders” set to music from Wii Sports and an edit of Rafe Cameron in “Outer Banks” set to iPhone alarm sounds (posted by a user who, clearly frustrated with the lack of available music, wrote: “wake up UMG”).
Some users have attempted to offer alternatives for UMG songs by singing covers of the vanished material—some seriously, and others satirically.
Several artists and host Trevor Noah mentioned the UMG dispute at the Grammys Sunday night. Noah criticized TikTok for “ripping off artists,” joking: “That’s Spotify’s job!” Spotify has long been accused of unfairly compensating artists, who say streaming does not pay as much as sales. After accepting the Grammy for Producer of the Year (Non-Classical), Jack Antonoff slammed UMG’s decision as “ass-backwards” and stated artists should have known about the move. Gracie Abrams told Variety on the Grammys red carpet she hopes UMG and TikTok reach a solution soon, praising TikTok users for being creative with music on the platform.
Some independent artists, or those signed to other labels, joked that it’s their time to shine now that the UMG artists have disappeared from TikTok. Rapper Ktlyn, who has 2.4 million followers on TikTok, said she might “actually have a chance” since as an independent artist, her songs are still free to use. Rapper Jasiah, signed to Atlantic Records, joked TikTok users will have to listen to him now that UMG artists are gone.
The TikTok resurgence of “Fluffing a Duck” comes just weeks after the song’s most recent unexpected moment in the spotlight: Kristen Wiig and Will Ferrell danced to the song as part of a comedic bit at the Golden Globes. MacLeod, interviewed by Vulture about the Globes bit, praised the joke and said it probably landed the most for young TikTok users who have heard his viral jingles.
