Taylor Swift's Music Returns To TikTok Ahead Of 'The Tortured Poets Department' Release

Taylor Swift’s music has returned to TikTok. The move arrives after Universal Music Group (UMG) pulled its roster from the platform earlier this year amid a dispute surrounding unfair artist compensation and concerns about AI.

However, as Variety reports, Swift now owns her masters, so she may have struck her own arrangement with the platform away from Universal.

Since 2019, the Blank Space hitmaker has released music under Republic Records, a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. Swift’s music is distributed through Universal after she signed a deal with the company’s publishing division in 2020.

Variety’s report also suggests that Swift may have partnered with TikTok to promote her new album, The Tortured Poets Department, which arrives next Friday (19 April), as she did with her most recent album, Midnights.

At the time of publication, songs from Swift’s expanding discography, including Cardigan, Mirrorball, Style (Taylor’s Version), Is It Over Now (Taylor’s Version), Cruel Summer, Fearless (Taylor’s Version), and more are back on the platform.

On 31 January, UMG ceased licensing the label’s music to TikTok and its new streaming service, TikTok Music.

In an open letter, UMG accused TikTok of offering a payment “a fraction of the rate that similarly situated major social platforms pay.” According to UMG, “TikTok is trying to build a music-based business without paying fair value for the music.” 

UMG alleged that TikTok initially replied to the label’s requests with indifference, then “intimidation”.

“TikTok attempted to bully us into accepting a deal worth less than the previous deal, far less than fair market value and not reflective of their exponential growth,” the label wrote. “How did it try to intimidate us? By selectively removing the music of certain of our developing artists, while keeping on the platform our audience-driving global stars.”

UMG also expressed concerns about AI in music and piracy on the platform.

Responding to Universal’s open letter, a representative for TikTok wrote in response: “It is sad and disappointing that Universal Music Group has put their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters.”

They accused UMG of peddling a “false narrative and rhetoric”, saying the latter company chose “to walk away from the powerful support of a platform with well over a billion users that serves as a free promotional and discovery vehicle for their talent”.

The Music reported that TikTok’s ban on Universal, which muted the label’s artists’ music when users attempted to use songs on their videos, affected over 50% of the following week’s ARIA Chart.