TikTok – The New Music Scout
The music industry is a tough one, and artists have to be innovative, creative and consistent to succeed in it. There are various reasons for this: getting your music to the right audience, obtaining finances, and breaking the industry’s glass ceilings. This has been a challenge majorly faced by upcoming artists who do not have access to the funds or are not signed to influential and powerful record labels. The overwhelming majority of phenomenal independent talents remain unnoticed and underplayed.
Artists are continually looking for ways to get their music to the world and make a breakthrough in the industry. This has made platforms that offer opportunities through which songs can be shared very important. Social media platforms have offered a way for artists to do this, and in recent times, TikTok has led the way. Nothing impacted the music industry like TikTok in 2020.
Though TikTok thrives on memes and viral trends, its usefulness in discovering music has become immense. The app allows users to upload original songs or choose a sound from a wide variety of genres and categories. It connects directly with Apple Music, giving artists and uploaders a choice to link the entire song for interested viewers to listen to. This offers an opportunity for both new and old music. Take, for example, Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” which he uploaded on TikTok. That singular act got him a new record as the longest-running “Billboard Hot 100” No. 1 song, an estimated pre-tax income of $14 million in 2019, and a new record label deal with Columbia Records.
Established artists have taken advantage of this to share music and upload original content. For example, Jonas Brothers used TikTok to post videos live from their tour, whilst Camila Cabello created videos dancing to her songs, such as “My Oh My”. New artists have also taken advantage of this, just like Lil Nas X. Paul Hourican, TikTok’s UK head of music operations stated that the popularity of some songs from new acts are really surprising, as many of the songs in the top 10 charts have been soundtracks to viral dance challenges created by unknown artists. The story of Jawsh 685 corroborates this, as the producer who uploaded an instrumental track called “Laxed Siren Beat Loop” gained millions of hits and the attention of Jason Derulo. Jason sang over the track and created the hit single “Savage Love”, the UK’s second-biggest selling song of the 2020 summer.
Artists cannot overlook the reach of TikTok. The app has over 1.5 billion downloads across both Apple store and Google play. It has about 500 million active users, which far exceeds Twitter and Snapchat, which have a combined number of 522 million active users. It offers a highly lucrative organic reach for artists. The fact that viral videos from TikTok positively affects streaming numbers shows that viewers view the videos and stream the song on their favoured streaming platform. Record labels have recognised the app’s reach and ability and have been signing artists with breakout tracks on TikTok. Relatively unknown acts such as Zervas, Sueco the Child, Jawsh 685 have all benefitted from TikTok.
The meteoric rise of TikTok is set to usher in a new collaborative vision for the future of music. The impact/influence it has had on the official global charts worldwide has been clear, and its potential is unlimited. TikTok has created various opportunities for creatives and should indeed not be ignored by any serious-minded artist.
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I am a Nigerian qualified lawyer with over 3 years of post-qualification experience. I’m an alumnus of the University of Lagos and the Queen Mary University of London, where I completed a master’s degree in corporate commercial law with a distinction. I’m also a drummer, a lover of dogs and an avid gamer.
Over the years, I have offered corporate and commercial services to companies, businesses and start-ups and provided advisory services to artists and record labels. I currently work with Laude London, a music management consultancy firm that offers publishing, sync placement, branding, and A&R services to artists.
