The connection between Tik Tok and the Music Industry
Music industry is one really interesting entertaining business because of the diversity and feelings that songs can produce in someone and also how popular this industry is. People may think that what rules the music industry is the artist and their songs if they are really popular, however, this is partially wrong. Would you believe me if I said that these days what is ruling the music industry is the social media app called Tik Tok? Surprisingly Tik Tok ruling or having a major effect on the music industry is a veridic statement.
One of the major components that Tik Tok has to be a great influence is the number of users in this app. This social network counts with about 689 million users worldwide and ranks in the seventh position of the most used social media(Sehl). 15 to 60-second videos with the background music it’s what is attracting the population today. This app is so popular and in some cases addictive because of the uniqueness in it. Entering Tik Tok is like going to a social circle where creators are dancing, singing, showing their talents, or telling their life stories as a way to escape their reality. One of the reasons for the popularity of Tik Tok is the trends that originated in it. The trends can be dances, lip-sync and play with the app filters. The algorithm would prioritize the videos that are being repeated by many users (trends) and as they are also shown in other apps eventually more people would be logging into Tik Tok (Vicente). This is the reasoning t why tik tok is such an influential and liked app by its users but how does it control the popularity of what we listen to?
Music, songs, and artists are the base of the app because without music we would just have people moving and talking to a camera so basically, songs and artists go hand in hand with creators and the app as a whole. In this app artists' main goal is to promote their work and their music and in more than one occasion tik tok has demonstrated to make a song go viral over the night. One example of the influence tik tok has on the music industry is the popularity of the song Driver’s License by Olivia Rodrigo which was getting famous but after being a tik tok trend and being used by great creators went insanely viral. This popularity that started at tik tok gave the artist more than 10 million followers with only 10 posts in her profile and 4 months later 880,000 have used this song for their videos(“How the TikTok Boom Has Impacted the Music Industry | MI”). In 2016 when the app was starting to get known billboard hits were what people were listening to and it had more influence than tik tok, five years later we can see it is the other way around. This past year’s consumption habits have completely changed and now users would listen to a song on tik tok first and then on a music platform. Tik tok makes it easier for an artist to be famous because it is an easier process than trying to get on the radio or other platforms. The popularity of this app would allow a whole country to listen to your creation in way less time. Researchers prove that this year consumption rates on social media have risen meaning that it is controlling most of the things we do on a daily basis. The capacity to connect people from all parts of the world with music makes it easier for artists to promote their work here. Users would listen to it and then the music industry would be affected.
Researchers and studies show that now with this powerful platform that is Tik Tok an artist’s success can really vary. Showing a song on this social network would really affect the results of their popularity. Tik tok is the perfect combination for younger people which are most of the population using the app. This app is changing the way Gen-Z listens to music (Mangano). The algorithm and trends in the app make it almost impossible to determine what type of music we would be listening to. I think the facilities provided by tik tok can help new and growing artists and change the way this generation, future or past ones know and feel about music.
Bibliography:
Sehl, Katie. “23 Important TikTok Stats Marketers Need to Know in 2021.” Social Media Marketing & Management Dashboard, 5 May 2021, blog.hootsuite.com/tiktok-stats/#:~:text=2..
Vicente, Vann. “Why Is TikTok so Popular? Why the Social Network Is Unique.” How-to Geek, www.howtogeek.com/711824/why-is-tiktok-so-popular-why-the-social-network-is-unique/#:~:text=TikTok%20Trends&text=Another%20big%20reason%20why%20TikTok.
“How the TikTok Boom Has Impacted the Music Industry | MI.” Musicians Institute Hollywood, 3 Mar. 2021, www.mi.edu/in-the-know/tiktok-boom-impacted-music-industry/#:~:text=TikTok%20is%20 undeniably%20a%20 sensation.
Mangano, Doroty. “How TikTok Is Disrupting the Music Industry.” WeRSM — We Are Social Media, 23 Mar. 2021, wersm.com/how-tiktok-is-disrupting-the-music-industry/.