Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Songs by American singer Taylor Swift have reappeared on TikTok, amidst a dispute with Universal Music Group (UMG) regarding royalties.
The re-availability of these songs also occurred ahead of Taylor Swift comeback and releasing his latest album, The Tortured Poets Department next week.
As is known, UMG officially withdrew all official music from the musicians they support from the TikTok platform as of February 1, 2024, United States time, following royalty issues.
In this way, official music from Taylor Swift, Sting, The Weeknd, SZA, Drake, Billie Eilish, U2, Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Coldplay and Bad Bunny is now no longer available from TikTok.
The song's drop came after Universal Music Group made an open statement threatening to withdraw their song rights after failing to negotiate a contract extension with TikTok.
The statement said that its licensing agreement with the platform had ended.
UMG explained that the agreement with TikTok ended on January 31, 2024. The two parties then failed to reach a new agreement due to royalty issues, artist compensation, and artificial intelligence (AI) issues.
As a result, music from Universal artists was removed from all TikTok platforms. Users are only informed that the music was removed due to copyright infringement.
TikTok also responded to UMG's attitude. The platform expressed sadness and disappointment with Universal Music Group's decision.
The platform then accused UMG of putting their greed before the interests of the musicians and songwriters they support.
“TikTok has been able to reach agreements that prioritize artists with labels and other publishers,” wrote TikTok's official statement, Friday, (12/4/2024).
So far there has been no official response from TikTok or UMG regarding the return of Taylor Swift's songs to the platform. However, plans to release the musician's new album have been announced in February 2024 when he won the 13th Grammy Award.
The Tortured Poets Department will be Taylor Swift's 11th full-length album, scheduled for release April 19.
[Gambas:Video CNBC]
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