Taylor Swift's music is back on TikTok amid her ongoing royalties dispute with Universal Music Group.
The pop icon's tracks returned to the platform just before the release of her highly anticipated new album, "The Tortured Poets Department," scheduled for next week.
Swift’s songs were spotted in TikTok’s music catalog on Thursday, available for use in video creations, according to CNN.
In January, Universal Music Group removed tracks from several of its top artists such as Swift, Ariana Grande, Camila Cabello, and Rihanna from TikTok. The move followed a public statement titled "An open letter to the artist and songwriter community — why we must call time out on TikTok," explaining that their licensing agreement with the platform had ended.
Music from Universal Music Group artists was subsequently taken down from TikTok, accompanied by a notice citing copyright violation. At the time, Universal criticized TikTok's payment proposal, stating that the platform proposed paying its artists and songwriters "a fraction of the rate that similarly situated major social platforms pay."
"Ultimately TikTok is trying to build a music-based business, without paying fair value for the music," it said in a statement.
The company further shared concerns about TikTok's support for AI-generated music. It criticized the platform's development of tools to "enable, promote and encourage" such creations, stating that this approach would "massively dilute the royalty pool for human artists."
TikTok said in a statement that it was "sad and disappointing that Universal Music Group has put their own greed above the interests of their artists."
Details remain unclear regarding the agreement that led to Swift's music returning to TikTok. However, music from other Universal artists remains absent from the platform.
Swift announced her upcoming album upon accepting her 13th Grammy award in February. Since then, she has been sharing album covers, song titles, and a countdown to its release on Friday, April 19, across various social media platforms. This will be her 11th studio album.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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