Following a continuing disagreement over royalties with her music distributor Universal Music Group, Taylor Swift’s music is once again available on TikTok.
Her songs have returned to the well-known social media platform just before the highly anticipated release of her most recent album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” which is scheduled for release next week.
Following the release of a statement titled “An open letter to the artist and songwriter community — why we must call time out on TikTok,” in which it stated that its licensing agreement with the platform was expiring, Universal Music Group removed music from a number of its artists in January, including Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Camila Cabello, and Rihanna.
Consequently, the music of Universal artists was taken out of any TikTok videos along with a notice stating that copyright violations were the reason for the removal.
TikTok offered to pay its artists and composers “a fraction of the rate that similarly situated major social platforms pay,” according to a statement made at the time by Universal Music Group.
In the end, TikTok stated in a statement that it is “Ultimately TikTok is trying to build a music-based business, without paying fair value for the music,”
Nevertheless, Universal said that TikTok barely generates 1% of its overall income.
Moreover, the business expressed dissatisfaction with TikTok’s decision to permit AI-generated music to be played on the site and its development of tools to “enable, promote and encourage” this kind of music production, which it claimed would “massively dilute the royalty pool for human artists.”
With Swift’s return to TikTok, it’s unclear what conditions have been fulfilled. A request for comment was not answered by the Universal Music Group, TikTok, or a representative for Taylor Swift. Other Universal artists’ music is still not accessible on the platform.
In February, Swift revealed her most recent album while accepting her 13th Grammy. Ever since, she has been teasing the album cover, song titles, and the countdown to its release on Friday, April 19, on social media. Her 11th studio album will be released.
