TikTok Thinks a Major Pop Star Stiffed This Songwriter Who Hasn’t Been Paid in ‘Almost a Year’
A singer-songwriter has gone viral on TikTok after claiming she hasn't gotten paid for her contributions to a song for another artist in "almost a year."
Singer and songwriter Kanner, who posts to TikTok under the handle @kannertime and identifies as the "neon green singer/songwriter" on Instagram, opened up about the situation in a TikTok that went live late last week.
In the clip, Kanner sings along to a snippet of Katy Perry's "This Is How We Do" — the "this is no big deal" part, to be exact — before flipping off the camera.
Text on screen explains her frustration: "When the artist still hasn't paid you in almost a year but your voice is in the song."
"This is getting hilarious," she sarcastically captioned the post. Kanner also included the hashtags #PaySongwriters and #NoBigDeal.
Watch the video below:
At the time of publishing, Kanner's video has amassed more than 4.4 million views. It's also received 730K likes and hundreds of comments from viewers weighing in and asking for more information — namely the, well, name of the artist who hasn't paid up.
Although Kanner has so far opted out of naming the musical act who owes her money (she alluded to fears of being sued for defamation in another upload), some TikTok users think they know who the artist is.
Many seem to think Perry is the star who owes Kanner for her work — and there's a few reasons why they think that.
For starters, the songwriter included one of Perry's songs in the now-viral TikTok.
Additionally, after a little digging it's clear that Kanner worked with the "Teenage Dream" icon early last year.
In May 2021, the songwriter uploaded a celebratory video announcing that she worked on Perry's Pokemon anniversary song "Electric." Watch her excited video below:
A quick search on Spotify reveals that Rachel Kanner is indeed credited as a songwriter on the track.
Kanner also made several additional TikToks about the collaboration: She got decked out in "Electric" merchandise, "leaked" the track's original demo and even joked about how Perry didn't know she existed in a series of videos that went live in 2021.
It's important to note, however, that it remains unconfirmed whether or not Katy Perry is the unnamed musical act who allegedly owes Kanner money.
Additionally, even if she were, it's worth pointing out that Perry is likely not the person holding the payment up. The singer would have a team responsible for paying songwriters and background singers.
That hasn't stopped some people from calling Perry out in the comments, though.
"@Katy Perry have you paid her yet," one fan demanded in the comments section of a TikTok that went live the morning.
Katy Perry's "Electric" Video
Kanner also seemingly alluded to the situation in a TikTok posted earlier this month.
The musician provided additional tea in a series of follow-up TikToks over the weekend in which she responded to people's comments.
Kanner singled out one person who, claiming to also work in the industry, wrote that late payments were the norm.
"This is why I'm upset," Kanner replied. "I'm not doing this for views. I'm not doing this to spill the tea. I'm doing this so the people who work hard can get paid in a more timely manner."
Watch the video below: