Taylor Swift‘s songs are back on TikTok a few days ahead of the release of her new album, The Tortured Poets Department, which is due out on April 19.
Several Swift songs, including “You Belong With Me,” “Lover,” “Cardigan,” “Mirrorball,” “Fearless (Taylor’s Version),” “Cruel Summer,” “Cardigan,” “Style (Taylor’s Version),” “Is It Over Now? (Taylor’s Version),” “The Man” and “ME!” – were back on TikTok by Thursday (April 11), available for users to incorporate into their videos.
After Universal Music Group let its licensing agreement with TikTok lapse on January 31, due to the app’s unwillingness to pay for the “fair value” of music, Swift’s catalog was pulled from the app in February. UMG also cited other concerns such as AI and artist safety as the reasons for letting the agreement lapse.
In a letter to its artists on January 30 explaining the licensing spat, UMG wrote, “With respect to the issue of artist and songwriter compensation, TikTok proposed paying our artists and songwriters at a rate that is a fraction of the rate that similarly situated major social platforms pay.”
TikTok countered that Universal was engaging in “false narrative and rhetoric.” TikTok said, “It is sad and disappointing that Universal Music Group has put their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters.”
It now seems TikTok has reached a separate deal with Swift who owns her masters and presumably would have the ability to strike her own arrangement. It is also said that with her new album, The Tortured Poets Department set to arrive on April 19, Swift is partnering with TikTok to promote the album.
There is no clarification as yet about the reappearance of Swift’s songs on the app. Neither TikTok nor representatives for Swift have responded to requests for comment. UMG has not spoken about the move as well.
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