TikTok's New Terms: What Music Artists Are Signing Away (And Don't Even Know It)

TikTok just updated their Terms of Service on January 22, 2026—right after becoming majority American-owned.And buried down in the legal language are some BIG things that every music artist on TikTok needs to understand before they post one more video.I’m talking about:* How TikTok can use your music to train AI* Why ‘delete’ doesn’t actually delete your rights* How other users can use your original sounds forever* And why that AI-generated beat you made might not actually be yoursThis is a help you ‘understand what you’re agreeing to so you can make smart decisions’ episode and not a ‘delete TikTok’ episode, although you may want to after this—and I will not blame you one bit!I have been screaming for artists to “get their fans off of social media” for years because I saw this shift coming. Subscribe to Think Like A Manager to keep receiving updates and join me on Skool so you can get the tools you need to build a fanbase off of social media. Get full access to Think Like A Manager- For Indie Music Artists at teeteethemanager.substack.com/subscribe