Engagement with the music industry on TikTok has been revolutionary.
Creators on TikTok are reshaping the ways in which people discover, promote and listen to music these days and it comes as no surprise, as the platform allows for unparalleled opportunities for creative expression.
In this article, we will be going through some of the various aspects as to how exactly TikTok is altering the music industry so far!
Virality on TikTok for the music industry
It’s no secret that many song’s tend to go viral on the video-sharing platform by chance and these aren’t always necassarily new songs.
For example, CKay’s ‘Love Nwantiti’, was released in 2019, but dramatically rose to fame only in 2021 and has now been used in more than 7 million TikTok videos across the globe.
Because video clips perform best with an average of 7 seconds in length, the app only plays a portion of the featured song. TikTok videos’ audio content is the song itself, not the user singing or talking over it, which means that songs with catchy lyrics are the most popular.
Popular TikTok tracks draw people in and enable them to put themselves in the song by using dance moves, scenarios to play out and other creative realms of expression.Â
Another example of an artist that has been trending on the platform for some time is Lizzo, and her song ‘About Damn Time’ which has generated millions of videos creating a dance challenge from the song.
You can see a compilation of users re-enacting the dance challenge below!
Creators being paid to promote songs
Some music marketers and artists collaborate with popular influencers on TikTok to promote their tracks and it has shown to be a significant source of revenue.Â
According to Business Insider, various TikTok influencers, such as Stemplewski, Cosette Rinab and Salinakilla, have quoted rates in the low-three figures to promote a song in a video. However, for creators with larger followings on the app, the price record labels and marketers pay for a song integration spikes.
Making music specifically for TikTok
More artists are figuring out ways to create music that is more suitable for short-form content.
As dance challenges are at the forefront of a lot of videos on the platform, a lot of artists are incorporating certain dance challenges within their music videos so audiences can then replicate these in their own videos.
Doja Cat for example, had a variety of TikTok hits go viral, but her song “Say So” elevated her popularity both on the platform & as a whole in the music industry.
In 2019, a TikTok user Haley Sharpe created a dance for the song and it went crazy!
Doja Cat took her chance and capitalized on the dance craze. When it came to creating the music video for the song, she integrated Sharpe’s dance into the 1970s-inspired clip.
Music that goes viral on TikTok covers a wide range of topics and genres.
Although there is no magic formula for creating a successful TikTok tune, there are ways to manipulate the app’s algorithm and get people to interact with a song.
A lot of artists within the music industry, such as Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato have also carried out private early-release listening schedules with creators before releasing their songs.
Miley Cyrus’ team collaborated with TikTok to schedule two private Zoom calls with approximentally 15 creators, in order to give them an early listen to her single “Midnight Sky” as it was about to be released.
What are some ways you think TikTok has changed how you regard the music industry? Tell us your thoughts on Twitter @itpliveme.
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