Taylor Swift: Artist’s music back on TikTok after dispute

Taylor Swift’s songs are returning to TikTok following a dispute that led her label to stop licensing her content to the app.

The return of his music Thursday precedes the release of his new album, The Tortured Poets Department.

Universal Music pulled songs by its artists in January, including Rihanna and Ariana Grande, citing a licensing conflict.

Many artists have complained about insufficient royalties from TikTok.

While many of his songs – including You Belong With Me and Cruel Summer – are once again available for users to add to their videos, music owned by Universal’s other artists has still not been made available for sale again.

Perhaps that’s because unlike other artists, Swift owns the copyright to her music under the terms of a 2018 deal with Universal. Some reports speculate that Swift has a separate deal with TikTok.

The “Swifties” – fans of Taylor Swift – took to the platform to share their joy at the return of her music.

“OMG this made my year,” verified user Jessica Golich wrote, adding that users would “have the brand new album to play along with.”

Divendra Rai recorded a lip-sync video with Cruel Summer, captioned: “Welcome Taylor!!!”

In an open letter published on January 30, Universal asserted that “ultimately, TikTok is trying to create a business based on music, without paying fair value for the music.”

Universal said it was also concerned about getting fair compensation to artists for AI-generated songs designed to sound like real songs, like the one designed to sound like Drake and The Weeknd that is 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 April 19, is his 11th album.

The BBC has contacted Universal and TikTok for comment.