TikTok Literally Silences Cat Janice, Pop Star Who Died of Cancer, Because of Licensing Dispute

In January, the dance pop artist Cat Janice posted that she had just gotten the news that the cancer she’d been fighting for years, and documenting on TikTok, had become terminal: “hey guys. I’ve got the rough news that cancer has won. I’ve fought hard but sarcomas are too tough.” Janice explained that she was going to die soon, but that she was going to release a final song.

That song, “Dance You Outta My Head,” has since gone megaviral, skyrocketing to the top of the Billboard TikTok Top 50 (which tracks the most popular songs on the platform), passing 12 million listens on Spotify, and becoming a legitimate banger from an artist who was already making waves in the industry. Last weekend, I saw the TikTok where she announced the upcoming release of the song, and went to her profile to learn more about her backstory.

Janice died Wednesday, her family announced on her Instagram.

Dozens and dozens of her recent, autobiographical videos have had the sound completely removed from them. The main fallout of a TikTok licensing dispute with Universal Music Group is not just the loss of backing soundtracks to TikTok videos, but the loss of all sounds on those videos, which very often include human voiceovers—in this case, Janice talking about her fight with cancer, over music that she herself created. 

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