Taylor Swift and TikTok are going steady again: the singer’s music is back on the service

Taylor Swift and TikTok have rekindled their love story. The singer, who owns the rights to many of her recordings, has agreed to let some of her songs back on the app. The return comes after a dispute between TikTok and Universal Music Group led to widespread removal of music in early February. UMG distributes Swift’s works, as well as major acts such as The Beatles, Bad Bunny and Billie Eilish.

It’s more than just a smart marketing move for Swift, who is preparing to release her new album, The Tortured Poets Department, on multiple formats on April 19. Bringing her tracks back to TikTok shows that she can compete with the biggest music distributor. On the planet. The change does not affect other UMG artists, who do not have the same rights to their music as Swift, and whose songs have not yet been featured on TikTok.

Read more: The Great TikTok-UMG Music Purge: Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Others Have Disappeared from the Site

Bad blood with UMG

according to The New York Times UMG began pulling songs from TikTok on February 1, one day after its licensing contract with the app expired. Users who included any of the company’s songs in their videos were suddenly faced with silence and the option to replace the now-missing soundtrack with a song or sound that UMG did not own.

On January 30, the company published an open letter to explain why UMG needed a “period recall on TikTok.” The letter highlighted three issues: “adequate compensation for our artists and songwriters, protecting human artists from the harmful effects of artificial intelligence, and online safety for TikTok users.”

“Ultimately, TikTok is trying to build a business based on music, without paying fair value for the music,” the letter read.

TikTok backed down the same week, with a company representative writing in an email press release that TikTok “has been able to reach ‘artist first’ agreements with every other brand and publisher. Clearly, Universal’s self-serving procedures are not at their best.” Concerns Artists, songwriters and fans.”

UMG disagreed.

“TikTok continues to say that artists should be grateful for ‘free promotion’ and that music companies are ‘greedy’ because they simply expect them to compensate artists and songwriters appropriately, and at similar levels as other social media platforms currently do,” UMG said in a statement sent Via email in February. “TikTok has not even attempted to address the other issues we have raised regarding malicious AI and platform safety.”

The deadline still applies, though there may be some other artists associated with UMG who, like Swift, have ownership of working directly with TikTok and reaching an arrangement.

Read more: Taylor Swift’s New Album: Nabbing All the Bonus Tracks Will Cost You

Which Swift tracks are back?

diverse observer Several popular Swift songs returned to TikTok as of April 12, including Cruel Summer, You Belong With Me, Lover, and Taylor’s various versions of Fearless, Style, and Is It Over Now? TikTok users can use these clips in their videos.

There are no songs from her upcoming album on TikTok as of this writing, but that may change on April 19, when the Tortured Poets section is released.

Read more: I’m Swifty, but I’m not streaming Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour movie. And here’s why

He’s still on tour

Swift will spend the rest of 2024 on her highly sought-after Eras Tour around the world. After taking a break from the road to release Tortured Poets Oath, the Eras Tour will resume on May 9 in Paris and travel across Europe and Canada. The latest scheduled date as of this writing is December 8 in Vancouver, British Columbia.