TikTok Music Layoffs Hit the US and Latin America

According to Digital Music News, around 15 employees at TikTok’s US and Latin American music departments have been laid off, with more redundancies due in the coming weeks.

Layoffs:

• The news was broken to employees on Wednesday October 22.

• As per Digital Music News, sources say there will be further redundancies in other parts of the world, particularly the UK.

• This is the first round of significant layoffs in TikTok’s music unit since 2023.

In the background:

• The move comes as TikTok’s future in the US remains uncertain, with the deal President Trump has promised with parent company ByteDance and the Chinese government yet to materialize.

The future:

• Digital Music News references sources who claim that TikTok plans to focus on current artist and festival partnerships in the near future, while a number of roles in music-related partnerships and programming have been eliminated.