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13-04-2024
NEW YORK: Taylor Swift’s songs are back on TikTok following a dispute that led her label to stop licensing its content to the app.
Her music’s return on Thursday comes ahead of the release of her new album, The Tortured Poets Department.
Universal Music pulled songs by its artists in January, including Rihanna and Ariana Grande, citing a licensing dispute.
Many artists have complained about inadequate royalties from TikTok.
While many of her songs including You Belong With Me and Cruel Summer are again available for users to add to their videos, music belonging to Universal’s other artists has still not been relisted.
That may be because unlike other artists, Swift owns the copyright to her music under the terms of a 2018 deal with Universal. Some reports speculated Swift reached a separate deal with TikTok.
“Swifties”, Taylor Swift fans took to the platform to share their delight at her music returning.
“OMG this made my whole year,” wrote verified user Jessica Golich, adding that users would “have the whole new album to play with”.
Divendra Rai recorded a video lip syncing to Cruel Summer, captioned: “Welcome back Taylor!!!”
In an open letter published on 30 January, Universal claimed that “ultimately TikTok is trying to build a music-based business, without paying fair value for the music”.
Universal said it was also concerned about getting fair compensation for artists for AI-generated songs made to sound like the real thing, such as one made to sound like Drake and The Weeknd which went viral.
Swift announced her upcoming album while accepting her 13th Grammy award earlier this year.
The Tortured Poets Department, which will be released on 19 April, is her 11th album. The media has contacted Universal and TikTok for comment.
Earlier, Taylor Swift has joined Elon Musk as ranking among the world’s wealthiest people, according to a new rich list.
The American pop star entered the Forbes World’s Billionaires List for the first time with $1.1bn (£877m), along with Sam Altman, creator of the AI chatbot ChatGPT on $1bn (£800m).
LVMH French luxury goods titan Bernard Arnault and his family topped the chart with an estimated $233bn (£185bn).
Forbes said there were a record 2,781 billionaires for 2024.
The figure is 141 more than last year and 26 more than the previous record set in 2021. Forbes added the elite were richer than ever with a collective wealth of $14.2tn (£11.3tn).
Singer-songwriter Swift entered the rich list after achieving megastar status. She stole the show at this year’s Grammy Awards, becoming the first performer to win the prize for album of the year four times.
Her album 1989 (Taylor’s Version) was also the best-selling vinyl LP of last year.
Swift’s success is not just confined to the world of music. Her mere presence at American football games to watch her boyfriend Travis Kelce has been credited with raising NFL viewing figures.
When it comes to the top 10 richest people on the planet, eight listed were from the US, six of whom had made their money in technology industries. (Int’l News Desk)
