By Pari Abbasli, Marina de Lima Torres, Radina Veleva, Sopheakpanha Nem, Sebastiaen Toon Jan Van Aert
TikTok is one of the platforms that has concretely entered our lives in the past 4-5 years. The fact that TikTok influencers can earn $34,000 in a month proves how powerful this medium is.
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This power not only differentiates the platform from other mediums, but also creates challenges for other industries that already exist. One of the noteworthy facts is that TikTok continues to both benefit and harm the music industry. TikTok, which is a blessing for beginners, amateurs and underground artists, has become a curse for some “real world” celebrities.
Complaining artists
In May, a new celebrity challenge hit TikTok: several musicians, including Halsey, complained about their Record Labels asking them to be active on TikTok: “Basically, I have a song that I love that I wanna release ASAP, but my record label won’t let me. I’ve been in this industry for eight years and I’ve sold over 165 million records,” she wrote. “And my record company is saying that I can’t release it unless they can fake a viral moment on TikTok. Everything is marketing.”
Florence Welch from Florence + the Machine, FKA Twigs and Charli XCX (after getting viral, she stated that she just made fun of the situation with irony), are the other ones who supported Halsey with their TikTok videos as well.
Ironically, Abby Roberts, 21, TikTok celebrity is a part of the opening slot of Halsey’s concerts during “Love and Power” tour.
In May, Halsey, who expressed how TikTok became a requirement for musicians as a marketing tool, has been on tour since June with Abby Roberts, who has 17 million followers on TikTok and used this fame for her music career. Roberts continues to delight her audience and grow her audience with her backstage videos on tour, adding more colors to her success.
TikTok and music
TikTok and music have become inseparable today. In the words of Ole Obermann, Global Head of Music for TikTok: “TikTok has become an integral part of music discovery, connecting artists to their fans and introducing brands to every corner of the community. It is the home for music trends that permeate the industry, charts, and culture. From emerging artists to small business owners, by associating with the right music or sound on TikTok, creators, artists and businesses alike can see a major impact.”
The music trends on TikTok are closely followed by people, each using them for their own purpose. Sabina Bagirova for example, who is PR Manager of Park Cinema in Azerbaijan, stated that since their TikTok page represents a Cinema, they are constantly trying to make creative videos with characters from movies: “But no matter how creative you are, TikTok’s algorithm normally selects videos with trend songs and music for the For You Page. That’s why we manage the TikTok profile with such an approach: 60% trending music and 40% original scripts and videos.”
Also Sevar Mammadova, a TikTok Manager for Kontakt Home, a company of electronic shopping, said trend songs on TikTok affect her ideas: “When we see a trend with music, we try to create the idea according to it. Trending music reinforces the good ideas that come to our mind, helps to increase the reactions to the video and profile.”
That TikTok is a great way to market your product is not only known to TikTok managers like Bagirova and Mammadova, also music artists themselves use TikTok to get their music out there. Especially for undiscovered but ambitious and talented artists, TikTok is a promising platform and gateway to the wider public.
According to a 2021 MRC Data study, 75% of TikTok users say they discover new artists through TikTok and 63% of the users heard new music that they have never heard before on TikTok. It also appears that the TikTok community interacts more with the music featured in videos on TikTok, with 67% of TikTokers more likely to seek out a song they heard on TikTok on a music streaming platform like Spotify. Further, 72% of TikTokers agree that they associate certain songs with TikTok, having an authentic “Heard it on TikTok” moment.
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It shows that TikTok has become a key player in the music industry, opening up opportunities for new-born artists without solid support. This is backed up by a report from creative consulting agency ContraBrand, stating that 56% of the 208 artists who went viral on TikTok in 2022, were not signed to a label. Of those unsigned artists, 63% of them went viral without running ads or hiring influencers or agencies.
“All of the 208 artists featured in this report achieved success with songs they released this year so it certainly isn’t too late for artists to utilize TikTok as a highly effective marketing tool for their music,” ContraBrand said, offering hope to those that haven’t found their way to the music business yet.
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Going global
If, for some who are already established in the music industry, TikTok is another platform adding up into their crazy schedule of concerts, music releasing, campaigns, flights everywhere and meeting fans, for other people, TikTok is just the right way to pursue this dream career.
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For João Pedro Franco “Cook”, the bassist of the Brazilian rock band Dennehy, TikTok came in handy as the perfect tool to grow their community and find more listeners for the band around the world.
“TikTok has somehow changed the way we look at social media. We see examples of bands here in Brazil and abroad that blew up and are now touring, recording more songs, they also gained recognition outside the internet.”
Dennehy is an independent band in the capital of Brazil, Brasília, and before TikTok, their public range was summed up by their local fans in their city, where the word to mouth worked to keep the band growing in the rock scene of Brasilia and doing some concerts from now and then.
After joining TikTok, however, Dennehy saw their videos blow up on the platform only after a few posts.
“We haven’t been there for a long time, but you can already feel that TikTok is more dynamic. One of our videos had 3 million views! It’s an unreal mark for a band that’s still small and independent, but it makes us want to keep trying. The goal is to be able to make something our own there, a song, a clip, or even a trend, but one created by us or with our music.”
After blowing up, João Pedro give us a sneak peak on their new audience:
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With listeners from all around the world, what impresses the most is how the band built a solid fanbase in Asia, especially the Philippines, which happens to be the country on the opposite side of the world – if you consider the distance between Cuiabá (a city located 1,5 thousand kilometers from Brasília, where Dennehy’s based) and Manilla.
“I feel that in the short time we’ve been on TikTok, things have already changed, we gained more listeners, more followers and everything was way faster than on any other social network.”
As for why choosing TikTok as a marketing strategy for the band, “Cook” explains that it was an obvious choice to dive into the platform for its potential of growth, with the whole band engaging in creating content for it.
“I believe that TikTok has become a new way of growing on the internet, and growing very, very fast, but there is still a long way to go. The good thing about it is that what would take for a rock band about 5 to 10 years to grow on other networks, on TikTok we see it happening in months.”
As for their next steps, the band is still unsure what to do with this unexpected success, but they are already working to keep their community growing.
“Our idea is to continue growing there and for this growth to spread to all our areas as well. For now, we’ve only talked about this, but we haven’t really dived into this world of “music for TikTok” like “speed ups” or similar. But we have a lot of ideas on how to continue to grow there, and also take it to other networks, and especially offline.”
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Not always a match
TikTok’s potential to help artists break through and kickstart their music careers does not attract everyone. Some artists purposely refrain from using the platform. One of those people is Jeppe Schartau, a 24-year-old Danish musician and producer, going by the stage name 9907 Isaiah. He says he doesn’t use TikTok to promote his music because he believes the platform has a major flaw – its lack of authenticity.
According to Jeppe, “TikTok is surface level; you make catchy tunes, and you get a lot of followers but that’s not the type of fans I would want.”
“I would rather stay an underground artist with few people who dig my music and style, than to change my music to fit TikTok to get some surface level fans.”
Despite his choice to not use TikTok, Jeppe admits that there are positive sides to the platform, mostly for musicians who are trying to make it big in the industry and become professionals. However, he also thinks that many flock to the app only for financial gains, which harms their reputation. Jeppe concludes: “I don’t want to be known as that TikTok guy.”
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Pharaoh, a Danish indie rock band, is also not very keen on using TikTok to market their songs, as they believe that the app’s purpose is not aligned to their career goals. “We find it very important that our music is not made with the purpose of going viral or 10 seconds of a song getting attention on TikTok. While that is a great way for some artists to make music and get attention, we find that it is not the right way for us.”
But that doesn’t mean they rule out the possibility of going big on social media, they just prefer to stick to other platforms: “we like the format of posting a picture and writing a comment, which you see on Instagram. It is also the format we know best. That is why we have not taken on TikTok yet and are sticking to Instagram for now.”