Why and How TikTok is Transforming the Music Industry As We Know It Today

Since its launch back in 2016, TikTok has experienced tremendous growth in popularity, with approximately 1.5 billion daily users globally by early 2022. The app’s booming success has led to an increase in the usage of the platform by musicians as a fresh means of promoting new songs. An avid user of TikTok myself, I have observed over time the fluctuating popularity of songs when they begin to trend on the app, songs I may not have come across if it were not for a specific challenge or dance that TikTok users utilise the sound for. But why is it that the app is such an excellent place to promote new music? Let’s get into it…

Small artists, big artists, and everyone in between, record labels, producers, music marketers – you name it, every kind of musical creative will be using the platform today to get new music out there and trending, hitting the top charts. A TikTok trend which occurred recently was with Lizzo’s fresh hit single, “About Damn Time”. Lizzo is already hugely popular across the music charts, but this song in particular could be heard almost everywhere you went, especially all over the app.

This is because of a dance that was choreographed to accompany the song, and users all over the world took to the challenge of recording themselves doing this dance with the track accompanying. Lizzo herself even popped up to correct users of the way they were clapping their hands to the lyrics “it’s about damn time” – remember, three big claps! The dance was originally choreographed by TikTok creative Jaeden Gomez, who garnered millions of likes and views on this personalised routine! As a result, the song gained a ton of extra traction that it may not have gained without this trend. Lizzo herself even commented on Jaeden’s video, claiming she was going to partake in the trend, too. Sure enough, the singer posted her own iconic interpretation of the dance that unsurprisingly went on to receive millions of likes and views.

Other songs which have taken a similar route in regard to gaining traction via TikTok include “Savage” by Megan Thee Stallion – user Keara Wilson choreographed a dance routine for this track that spread like wildfire across the platform. The song “Renegade” by Lil Massive blew up after a dance choreography was created by Jalaiah Harmon. Well-known TikTok creative and dancer Charli D’Amelio posted a video doing the routine – being one of the most followed users on the platform, the song and dance blew up even more so from this.

After Haley Sharpe created a dance choreography to “Say So” by Doja Cat, the song got so huge that the singer actually invited the choreographer to feature in her music video, in which she performed her dance! Crazy! These examples highlight exactly how songs can gain huge traction simply by a dance routine gaining popularity. The more likes and views a video gets, the more “For You” pages it will appear on, and the more pages it appears on, the more users there will be who use the audio to take part in the challenge themselves – the same thing happens all over again in a repetitive cycle until the track is one of the top trending on the platform.

Some songs which were chart toppers years ago when they were first released (sometimes even decades back) have regained traction today via TikTok trends. A perfect example is the iconic “Running Up That Hill (Deal With God)” by Kate Bush. The song was originally released in 1985, reaching number three on the UK singles chart and number 30 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was featured this year in a highly-talked about scene in Strangers Things season 4, the popular Netflix sci-fi drama.

Following this, “Running Up That Hill (Deal With God)” began trending heavily on TikTok when users started using it as a sound for videos. Some clips would take inspiration from Stranger Things, with users dressing up in cosplay and re-enacting scenes; other clips centred around Kate Bush herself and how the song’s current popularity is connecting younger generations with original fans from older generations. The song gained such a huge traction from both the TV show feature and its TikTok success that it was sent back to the top of the charts. Kate Bush was blown away by the song’s resuscitation, with it being 37 years since its original release, and gave thanks to fans in a rare public statement.

There are multiple other techniques in which the app can be used to enhance traction for new or old music, such as marketers hiring influencers to promote their song on their channel, which will spark a wave of posts from their fans/followers. The influencer can earn thousands of pounds from doing this. Music marketing has grown and become huge in the past few years as it benefits both the musician and the influencer or creative who promotes their music.

TikTok also has a team that specifically works with artists and labels around the world, negotiating licensing deals for tracks. Songs that trend on TikTok generally become a chart topper, on respected playlists like Spotify Top 50 or Billboard 100. Users are also more likely to seek out a song on streaming platforms such as Spotify or Apple Music after coming across it on a trending TikTok video. I personally came across a cover by singer Billianne of “Simply the Best”, originally sung by Tina Turner, and added it to my saved sounds, even using it for a video I later created for my channel. I followed Billianne’s journey and ended up downloading the song when she recorded and put out the cover professionally on streaming platforms!

Creative success for musicians via a digital platform is incredibly different to how it used to be done, with everything by word of mouth or physically printed in the press – some people will hold the view that this is the better way to do it, a more raw approach. But if the end goal is the same, surely using these platforms to your advantage as a musician today is the smartest way to go about pursuing your musical career? I’d say so, and I’d say the billions of users across social media platforms today finding music through this digital alternative would say the same…