Taylor Swift fans upload homemade tributes amid TikTok dispute

Taylor Swift fans are re-uploading their own versions' of her songs after UMG took them down as part of a contract dispute with TikTok.

Taylor Swift’s music has been swiftly pulled off of TikTok, leaving Swifties with no choice but to record their own versions of the artist’s songs.

Universal Music Group, one of the “Big Three” music corporations, sparked a chaotic era for the fans when it pulled its catalog from the platform after it failed to reach a deal with TikTok. 

A UMG spokesperson told NBC News that the company’s agreements with TikTok expired because of “TikTok’s unwillingness to appropriately compensate artists and songwriters, protect human artists from the harmful effects of AI, and address online safety issues for TikTok’s users.” In a public statement, TikTok called UMG’s claims “false,” saying the company “put their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters.”

As a result, UMG, which has no relation to NBC News or NBC Universal, removed thousands of songs by popular artists from the platform this week, including all of Swift’s catalog. Now, hundreds of thousands of TikToks, some with millions of views, are silent and read, “Sound removed due to copyright restrictions.”

But Swift fans on TikTok have developed a workaround: Singing the songs themselves. The artistic quick-fix has resulted in a handful of people filming themselves belting, sometimes off-key, and posting the hilarious results. 

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/taylor-swift-music-tiktok-umg-fans-rcna137011

---