After being absent from TikTok for a while, Taylor Swift is back on the social media platform, or rather, her music is. The singer’s comeback comes just before the release of her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department.
Last January, a dispute between Universal Music Group (UMG) and TikTok caused the record label to stop licensing Swift’s songs within the social network. The singer was not the only one affected by this dispute; other artists, whose music rights are also managed by UMG, saw their songs disappear from TikTok along with Swift’s.
In an open letter published on January 30th, UMG explains that the short video network abused its position to pay less for its catalog than other similar platforms. According to the company, “TikTok is trying to build a music-based business, without paying a fair value for it“.
However, since Thursday, several of Swift’s most recognized hits (You Belong with Me, Is It Over Now?, etc) became available again for use in the application.
None of the parties involved in this matter (Taylor Swift, TikTok, and UMG) have explained what happened, but everything indicates that Swift would have negotiated with TikTok independently. And it is that for now, the music of other UMG artists, such as Ariana Grande or Rihanna, has not yet returned to TikTok.
Taylor Swift owns all the copyright to her songs under an agreement she reached with her record label, Republic Records, in 2018. After the successful The Eras Tour, Swift returns on April 19th with The Tortured Poets Department, one of the most anticipated albums of 2024 so far.
