Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk is facing criticism after he asked singer-songwriter Taylor Swift to post music and concert videos directly to X, formerly known as Twitter.
The situation was first seen on Wednesday in a post where Musk made a plea to the "Bad Blood" singer on his social media platform. That request came shortly after Swift promoted the upcoming re-release of her 2014 album titled "1989."
Elon Musk's Request for Taylor Swift
On the other hand, the globally influential singer-songwriter did not publicly respond to Musk's suggestion. In her post, Swift wrote that it is a new soundtrack, and she also showed the back covers and revealed the vault track titles for '1989' (my version).
Additionally, Swift dropped the names of her upcoming Vault tracks after teasing fans with a video that featured a blue vault spitting out letters on her Instagram account on Tuesday. That particular promo sent fans of the international superstar into a frenzy.
In partnership with Google, the "Cruel Summer" singer revealed the name of four of the five vault tracks after 33 million fans solved the Swift-related puzzles on the search engine. The tracks are the following: "Is It Over Now?," "Now That We Don't Talk," "Say Don't Go," "Suburban Legends," and "Slut!," as per the Los Angeles Times.
The last one was the surprise track that was not announced in the Google promotion for the international singer. Swift's new spin on "1989" will be the fourth record that would get the "Taylor's Version" treatment and is the latest in her efforts to reclaim the rights to her first six albums.
The award-winning record, which is scheduled for re-recording in October, was billed as Swift's first "official pop album" and included various songs such as "Shake It Off," "Style," "Blank Space," "Wildest Dreams," and "Bad Blood."
Musk's request to Swift comes as he had previously managed to bring on political figures and personalities, such as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis, to his platform. The billionaire entrepreneur is also boosting former Fox News host Tucker Carlson's show on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Promoting Swift's Music on X
According to Insider, representatives for the social media platform and Swift did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the situation. Many see Musk's attempts as futile as between Swift's astronomical album and concert sales, streaming dominance, and general icon status, and she does not need further promotion.
However, new music or videos from the international superstar would guarantee a surge of engagement for X, as many see that the platform's influence is slowly fleeting. The situation comes as Musk's platform faces a legal challenge filed by the National Music Publishers Association and its members in June for infringing copyright on more than 1,700 songs.
At the time, David Israelite, the agency's president, said that "Twitter stands alone as the largest social media platform that has completely refused to license the millions of songs on its service."
The legal issue predates Musk's acquisition of the social media platform and comes as X is the last social media giant without a licensing agreement. Since then, X has filed a motion for the suit to be thrown out, said Rolling Stone.
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