TikTok CEO Chew Shou Zi & Family attend 3 Mar Taylor Swift concert
TikTok CEO Chew Shou Zi and his family were among the thousands of fans who caught the Taylor Swift concert on Sunday (3 Mar).
He posted about the experience and shared snippets of the star’s performance on the video-sharing platform, set against what appears to be stock music from the app’s library.
This comes amid a breakdown of licensing talks between TikTok and Universal Music Group (UMG).
The spat saw the latter pulling the music of UMG label and UMG-distributed artists from the platform — including Swift’s.
Chew Shou Zi & family wore friendship bracelets to Taylor Swift concert
Following the second night of the Taylor Swift concert in Singapore, Chew took to his personal TikTok account to share his family’s experience at ‘The Eras Tour’.
@shou.time Was amazing to attend #erastourtaylorswift in #singapore with my family! Also looking forward to #torturedpoetsdepartment ! @Taylor Swift #tiktok #tiktokmusic
The video featured the Singaporean chief executive sporting friendship bracelets alongside his wife and daughter.
Source: @shou.time on TikTok
Chew also included short clips depicting different segments of Swift’s show.
Source: @shou.time on TikTok
Despite having footage from the live performance, Chew appeared to have used stock music from the TikTok library for his video.
The CEO wrote in the captions: “Was amazing to attend #erastourtaylorswift in #singapore with my family! Also looking forward to #torturedpoetsdepartment ! @Taylor Swift #tiktok #tiktokmusic”
TikTok CEO attends singer’s concert amid UMG dispute
Chew’s post comes in the middle of a bitter licensing dispute between TikTok and UMG, the latter with which Swift has an exclusive recording agreement.
UMG’s previous licensing agreement with TikTok expired on 31 Jan. The two entities did not renew the contract as they were unable to reach common ground for a new contract.
Countless TikTok Videos May Be Muted As Universal Music Removes Catalogue Of Popular Songs
This meant that music from UMG’s catalogue would no longer be available for use in TikTok videos.
In an open letter explaining this development, UMG alleged that TikTok does not compensate artists and songwriters.
However, TikTok disputed the claims and said that it was able to reach an agreement with every label and publisher besides UMG.
In light of this development, most of the comments on the TikTok CEO’s latest video are of users asking him to bring back Swift’s music to the platform — since he, like them, seems to be a fan of the singer.
Source: TikTok
One such comment requested: “Can we please restore her music to TikTok? Make that a priority?”
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Featured image adapted from @shou.time on TikTok.
