When Universal Music Group, the world's largest music company, fought with TikTok over licensing terms earlier this year, songs by hundreds of artists were removed from the platform and remain missing.
But Thursday brought back music from a special Universal artist: Taylor Swift.
Swift's new album, The Tortured Poets Department, drops next week, and many of her songs have reappeared in TikTok's official music library, allowing the service's millions of users to share their own videos. Music can now be placed in the background. . These videos have become one of the music industry's most important promotional tools, allowing them to create new hits and generate new hits, even though many artists and labels complain of low royalties from the service. , it has the potential to breathe new life into old songs.
The songs available to Swift appear to be from since signing with Universal in 2018, including hits such as “Lover,” “Antihero,” “Cruel Summer” and “Cardigan.” We also get “Taylor's Version,” re-recordings of old hits like “Style,” “Love Story,” and “Shake It Off,” originally released on her first label, Big Machine. can. After Big Machine was sold without her participation in 2019, Swift announced plans to re-record her first six studio albums, four of which she has already released. Each went straight to first place.
It wasn't immediately clear how Swift's song ended up back on TikTok while Universal's ban continues. When the company announced its plans to remove the music earlier this year, it also announced that its licensing agreement with TikTok would expire on January 31st. By the early hours of February 1st, Universal's music began to disappear from TikTok, as did millions of videos featuring the label's music. The music was silent.
Although Swift is part of Universal's artist roster, she owns the rights to her recordings and songwriting, which are managed by Universal Music Publishing Group, a division of the company.
Representatives for Swift, Universal and TikTok did not respond to requests for comment.
Universal, which has hundreds of artists including stars like Ariana Grande, Drake, Lady Gaga and U2, announced it was withdrawing permission to use the song after failing to reach a new licensing agreement with TikTok. The company accused TikTok of not being willing to pay “a fair price for its music” despite its importance to the platform. Universal also expressed concern that TikTok is “allowing AI-generated recordings to flood the platform” and diluting the royalty pool of real human artists.
In response, TikTok accused Universal of “prioritizing its own desires over the interests of artists and songwriters.”
The controversy has been one of the most dramatic clashes between the music industry and technology platforms in years, and public reaction has been mixed. While many music industry organizations have supported Universal, artists have expressed concern about losing such a valuable promotional platform.