TikTok unveils interactive Taylor Swift feature ahead of London Eras Tour shows
TikTok is strengthening its relationship with pop star Taylor Swift by unveiling a first-of-its-kind, interactive experience to highlight Swift’s titanic Eras Tour.
The launch of #TSTheErasTour allows fans to win album-branded profile frames correlating to each of the star’s albums, collect digital friendship beads to construct a TikTok friendship bracelet, watch video highlights from each concert and listen to custom playlists.
"There is perhaps no better example of an artist today who has a deep connection with their global fanbase than Taylor Swift,” said Ole Obermann, the global head of music business development at TikTok via e-mail. “We wanted to create an interactive in-app artist experience which would truly celebrate and share the joy of her live shows.”
More: Taylor Swift's music is back on TikTok a week before the release of 'Tortured Poets'
The move shows there is no bad blood between the global star and app following a rocky start to the year between Swift’s label Universal Music Group (UMG) and ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok.
UMG pulled its artists’ music from the app three days before the Grammys in February, halting negotiations and leaving TikTokers without the ability to post videos and photo slideshows to a large number of popular songs from artists like Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Bad Bunny and Adele.
Two months later and a week before the release of Swift’s 10th era album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” the singer’s music from Swift-owned albums and “Taylor’s Version” rerecords appeared back on the platform, drawing speculation her team struck a deal with the social media platform.
Obermann added TikTok wanted “to create an experience that we hope will forge even more connections between Taylor and the millions of Swifties all over the world.”
Swift’s account has amassed 33 million followers. There’s an entire social community dedicated to the hashtag #SwiftTok, which has garnered more than 2.6 million videos.
The in-app experience is part of a growing push by Taylor Nation, Swift’s in-house marketing team, as it adds the singer’s brand to more outlets.
In April, the singer joined Threads to exclusively announce the second half of double album of “Tortured Poets.” Her team added a Be Real account. They also cut a YouTube Shorts video in conjunction with the “Fortnight” music video showcasing the #ForAFortnightChallenge.
TikTok users will get to see how the unveiled feature works in conjunction with Swift's sold-out London shows on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
On Thursday, Taylor Nation posted, "As we celebrate the European leg of #TSTheErasTour, head to @tiktok each week to unlock exclusive profile frames and virtual friendship bracelet beads! Then, post a TikTok using the tour and show-specific hashtags for your chance to be featured on the search hub. 💚"
Follow Bryan West, the USA TODAY Network's Taylor Swift reporter, on Instagram, TikTok and X as @BryanWestTV.
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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: TikTok unveils interactive Taylor Swift feature ahead of London shows
