TikTok is breaking new artists every week from every corner of music, and it’s all thanks to the platform’s incredible ‘For You’ page.
With more than one billion monthly active users, TikTok is the hottest social media platform on the planet. Artists worldwide use the video-sharing app to find new fans and engage their audience, often without leaving their homes, and thousands more join each week hoping to do the same.
But how do you stand out? When everyone is making content, what is the point of adding to the noise if nobody can see what you’re making?
TikTok’s For You Page is the answer. Unlike any other explore page, TikTok’s For You section delivers unique content to users based on their individual preferences. As users continue interacting with the app, TikTok uses that engagement to predict what content will keep people on the platform longer. It’s an incredible feat of programming, and it’s the one place in social media where it seems, at least for now, that everyone has an equal chance of going viral.
In this Music Biz update, host James Shotwell shares a series of tips that will increase the likelihood of going viral on TikTok. He explains how the company’s algorithm feeds content to users and what steps creators can take to position themselves for success on the platform.
Music Biz is brought to you by Haulix, the music industry’s leading promotional distribution platform. Start your one-month free trial today and gain instant access to the same promotional tools used by BMG, Concord, Rise Records, Pure Noise Records, and hundreds more. Visit http://haulix.com/signup for details.
A new report finds Bytedance-owned TikTok is quickly overtaking YouTube as the world’s leading video platform.
TikTok’s users now spend more time each month watching content than YouTube users, according to a report from app analytics firm App Annie. In the US, ByteDance’s app first overtook YouTube in August last year, and as of June 2021, its users watched over 24 hours of content per month, compared with 22 hours and 40 minutes on YouTube.
The difference is even more apparent in the UK: TikTok overtook YouTube in May last year, and users there now reportedly watch almost 26 hours of content a month, compared to less than 16 on YouTube.
App Annie’s report’s reliance on Android user data may not accurately represent mobile users as a whole, but then again, it easily could. TikTok has witnessed a meteoric rise in recent years, and its influence as a music discovery platform has grown with it. Virtually every story about a new viral music sensation begins with a TikTok video in 2021. YouTube only enters the conversation later, after budgets and executives get involved.
In this Music Biz update, host James Shotwell shares insights from App Annie’s report to explain why artists hoping to maximize the value of their time should focus on TikTok instead of YouTube. Such a suggestion goes against over a decade of conventional music marketing thinking, but it’s a necessary change to meet the evolving demands of audiences. Video is dead! Long live video.
Music Biz is brought to you by Haulix, the music industry’s leading promotional distribution platform. Start your one-month free trial today and gain instant access to the same promotional tools used by BMG, Concord, Rise Records, Pure Noise Records, and hundreds more. Visit http://haulix.com/signup for details.
Do people really listen to the music that goes viral on TikTok? A new report finds the answer is an ecstatic “Yes!”
Ever since “Old Town Road” first went viral, music professionals and artists hoping to get attention have looked to TikTok to help break new talent. The popular video-sharing platform welcomes hundreds of millions of users every month. To date, more than 100 songs that initially rose to popularity on the app have found their way onto the Billboard charts. The working theory in music is that no other platform can make an artist or song known faster than TikTok, and the data from a pair of new industry reports seem to agree.
A music perceptions study was conducted in November 2020 by MRC Data, while a study about TikTok’s impact on culture was handled in March 2021 by London-based Flamingo Group. Both surveys were conducted online, polling nearly 1,500 TikTok users. Highlights from both studies were revealed Wednesday morning in a TikTok blog post.
With music discovery being one of the platform’s most talked-about attributes, it won’t surprise most music marketers to learn that 75% of TikTok visitors discover artists there, while 63% say it’s a source for music they’ve not heard before and 72% indicating they associate certain songs with TikTok.
A few examples of TikTok’s growing influence:
Lil Nas X first rose to popularity following TikTok’s embrace of “Old Town Road.” That song now holds the title for the most consecutive weeks at number one—ever.
Blanco Brown, rising country superstar, found a deal after his track “The Git Up” and its accompanying dance challenge spawned thousands of videos.
Fleetwood Mac’s hit “Dreams” experienced its biggest success in decades after a video of a man listening to the song while riding a skateboard drinking Ocean Spray cranberry juice went viral. Ocean Spray later bought the man a truck.
Claire Rosinkranz, Dixie D’Amelio, Powfu, Priscilla Block, Bella Porch, and Tai Verdes are some of the more than 70 musicians who have signed label deals following TikTok success.
In a study conducted in May by MusicWatch for trade group Digital Media Assn. (DiMA), in which respondents could choose more than one source, the leading driver cited for music discovery was audio streaming services at 47%, followed closely by video streaming services at 45% and AM/FM radio at 41%. In that study, posts from video or dance sites like TikTok, Instagram’s Reels, and Triller were cited by 29% of respondents, right behind “posts or alerts” on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat at 30%. Other factors, like music placed in film, TV, or video games ranked higher, with music in movies polling at 35%, while recommendations from family or friends ranked even higher at 39%.
The one factor that is hard to study is how TikTok’s influence compares to that of other platforms.
“Since 100% of the music fan base doesn’t all stream, or play video games, or watch dance videos, etc., it’s good to see how these user segments react differently when it comes to discovery or anything else for that matter,” says MusicWatch managing partner Russ Crupnick.
Still, it’s clear TikTok is a platform where artists from all corners of life are finding success. If you have yet to open an account, or if you need help getting started, we’ve got the clip for you:
Music Biz is brought to you by Haulix, the music industry’s leading promotional distribution platform. Start your one-month free trial today and gain instant access to the same promotional tools used by BMG, Concord, Rise Records, Pure Noise Records, and hundreds more. Visit http://haulix.com/signup for details.
TikTok is the premiere music discovery platform on the planet, but how are artists making money?
Exposure doesn’t pay the bills. As much as musicians enjoy any promotion they receive from a site or platform, money talks. Money makes the world go round, and it plays a role in the music business. It seems every other conversation in entertainment these days involves streaming royalties or a lack thereof. But what about TikTok royalties? The social media giant welcomes over 100-million users every month, most of whom spend hours on the app watching videos that include sound. Do artists get paid? If so, how?
For starters, yes, TikTok does pay artists for use of their music.
In comparison to other major platforms such as Spotify who pay per total number of streams, TikTok operates differently when calculating royalties and bases calculations on the number of videos made using your music, as opposed to the number of times the video is watched. That can often become confusing if you are measuring the way royalties are worked out against othersservices, so it’s important to understand the main difference here is that big view counts don’t equal large royalty payments.
To put it another way, the quantity of videos matters more than the total view count. One hundred videos with no views using a specific sound will generate more money than a single video with one million views. The views don’t matter.
TikTok royalties are based on market shares rather than metric views. To calculate the market shares, TikTok uses what is called “a creation.” A creation is when a user selects a release from TikTok’s library to make a video. Users can then make their own creations inspired by existing creations, all amounting to new creations. So, to put this simply, every time a user decides to use your music to make a video, this generates royalty.
And how much is a video worth? According to estimates online, TikTok royalties were close to $0.0067 per video using your music in 2018 and moved to $0.030 per video in June 2019. Based on these figures, ten thousand uses of this music would generate approximately $300.
Of course, this information is likely to change, TikTok is an evolving platform, and the conversation around royalties is unending. The company could easily choose to approach artist payments from a different position or price point overnight. When they do, we’ll cover it, so make sure you’re following Haulix on Facebook and Twitter.
The key to music promotion on TikTok and Instagram is finding multiple ways to push the same material. We can help.
Video is the future of music promotion, and the future of video exists on TikTok. The massive social media platform has an engaged global audience who look to the video-sharing platform to discover their new favorite creators, movies, books, television shows, and music. Artists who capture TikTok users’ attention see an enormous boost to their streaming numbers. That kind of action is known to turn heads throughout the music business, and we can help you get it.
In the latest Music Biz update, host James Shotwell breaks down eleven proven music promotion tactics for TikTok. He explains how artists can approach single promotion from various angles and the value of each. He also shares how many of these ideas will work for Instagram’s Reels feature.
PLEASE NOTE: The suggestions made in this video are most applicable to artists with recorded music. Those still writing their next hit may find the tips in this video useful, but for the best results, we recommend waiting until your music is widely available to the general public.
Don’t have time for the video? We’ve got you covered:
Lip-synch your new song in a studio space to offer users a glimpse at the creative process.
Lip-synch your new song while doing an activity that helps emphasize the aesthetic of your track. If you wrote a song about late-night drives, then shoot your video while driving at night. If you wrote it for a party, lip-synch at a gathering of close friends. Treat this clip like a short music video.
Use your new song as the sound for your clip and post captions of the lyrics on-screen to help people learn how to sing along at future concerts.
Post videos about the story behind the song. Tell your audience why you wrote the song, what you hope they take from it, etc.
While using the new song as the sound of your video, post behind-the-scenes footage of the writing and recording process. Fans LOVE to see what goes into creating a track.
Record a live acoustic (stripped) version of the track. That will showcase the song in a new light. It also helps emphasize your raw talent.
Record the acoustic (stripped) version and use the sound to create new versions of the previously mentioned lip-synch videos. Again, this allows you to showcase the message and energy of the track in exciting new ways.
Use both an early demo of your new song and the final mix in a single video to showcase how your creativity evolves.
While using your music as the sound on a video, showcase your latest merch and tell fans where they can buy the items they want. Emphasize the limited quantities available, and be sure to tie the merch to chosen sound whenever possible.
Instead of lip-synching over your video, share performance clips of the instruments involved in the song. For example, you can make a video of your drumming playing the chorus to the track.
Leverage fan-generated content. Duet, stitch, and critique fan videos. Download their clips and re-upload them to your account (while giving credit) to promote and engage with your community.
Music Biz is brought to you by Haulix, the music industry’s leading promotional distribution platform. Start your one-month free trial today and gain instant access to the same promotional tools used by BMG, Concord, Rise Records, Pure Noise Records, and hundreds more. Visit http://haulix.com/signup for details.
TikTok is the leading platform in music discovery right now, and we can help you build the following needed to get your next release heard.
Nobody anticipated the way TikTok would revolutionize the music industry. In a few short years, the video-sharing app has catapulted hundreds of songs onto the charts and helped countless artist elevate their career. It’s also become one of the most widely used social media platforms on the planet, with more than 1-billion downloads worldwide and daily users that number in the hundreds of millions.
As soon as Lil Nas X and “Old Town Road” to pop culture by storm, industry executives everywhere began flocking to TikTok in hopes of finding the next big thing. Artists, seeing how the once unknown rapper became a household name, followed suit.
But time has taught us that many musicians still don’t know how to build a following on TikTok. Going viral on the app is not as easy as some make it seem, and getting your song to takeoff is even more challenging. For every artist who cuts through the noise, hundreds, possibly thousands, do not.
You and your music deserve to be heard. TikTok can launch artists from any genre into the global spotlight, but you cannot achieve that success level through promotional posts alone. TikTok’s algorithm is brilliant, and overcoming it requires active participation in the app’s massive community.
In this Music Biz update, host James Shotwell shares five growth strategies for musicians. These tips are easy to implement and can make a massive impact on reach and engagement in as little as one month.
Music Biz is brought to you by Haulix, the music industry’s leading promotional distribution platform. Start your one-month free trial today and gain instant access to the same promotional tools used by BMG, Concord, Rise Records, Pure Noise Records, and hundreds more. Visit http://haulix.com/signup for details.
The last twelve months were an unpredictable rollercoaster that taught us a lot about the music business. 2021 is going to be similarly wild, but we have an idea where it’s headed. Here’s what to expect.
We’ll be the first to admit that 2020 took us by surprise. There were so many twists and turns that nobody saw coming, and most of the predictions we made were wrong. We’re pretty sure it did the same to every other music and business analyst as well, so we don’t take it personally, but it did make us think long and hard before preparing the video you’re about to see.
It’s a wild time to be alive. Between the global pandemic, shuttered music venues, and a release calendar that’s far from reliable, predicting the future is a tricky proposition. Still, we couldn’t let a new year begin without taking a stab at what awaits in the months ahead.
Our music business predictions for 2021 include the return of live music, shifting release schedules, emerging release strategies, new income streams, the continuing importance of TikTok, and more. Join us as Music Biz host James Shotwell peers into his crystal ball and outlines the optimistic possibilities of a unique and exciting year.
Music business predictions found in the video above include:
The return of live music. There is no doubt that fans want to see their favorite artists again, but several things need to happen before its safe for full-scale events to return. As much as we want summer festivals to happen, the data currently available points to fall is the most likely season for concerts to return at scale. Of course, the speed of vaccinations and consumer confidence in their effectiveness will play a large role in determining the future.
TikTok remains the hub of music discovery. Another big lesson from 2020 is that TikTok reigns supreme in the world of music discovery. Both emerging talent and legacy acts can benefit from their music going viral on the popular video-sharing platform. Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram have failed to create a similarly beneficial tool for artists, which leads us to believe TikTok’s influence will continue well into the new year.
Guitars are cool again. After years of promoting the idea that guitar-driven music is dead, the music business is singing a different tune. The success of legacy acts such as Fleetwood Mac and OMC on TikTok is partially responsible for this outlook, as is the impressive success of Machine Gun Kelly’s latest album, Tickets To My Downfall. As the SoundCloud rap era continues to fade, guitars seem positioned for a new age of popularity, and we look forward to seeing the way emerging artists embrace the instrument in 2021.
There are a lot of new albums on the horizon. The ban on live music in response to the COVID-19 pandemic scared labels and artists of all sizes, and for good reasons. Most artists depend on touring to make money, and most record companies rely on their cut of an artist’s touring income (and the exposure concerts generate) to cover expenses. Countless releases are sitting on hard drives because the industry believes touring is an essential component to an album cycle’s monetary success. As live music resumes in 2021, we’re anticipating an avalanche of albums, singles, and EPs recorded over the past 18 months to see the light of day. That, coupled with artists working on material right now, sets up a jam-packed release calendar.
Release strategies are changing. The current backlog of new music, coupled with consumers’ increasingly short attention spans, gives the music industry a chance to move away from traditional release strategies. We’re expecting more artists to emphasize singles over records in the new year, with each track receiving a full-force promotional effort. Songs will see teasers released in advance of the full track, followed by the song premiere, song visualizer, lyric video, and the official music video, not to mention additional snippets and behind-the-scenes content. Artists will make each track an ‘event’ that may or may not build up to a proper album. The risk of releasing ten or more tracks at once only for fans to move on in a matter of weeks is too risky.
Brand partnerships are on the rise. With touring on hold, artists and their teams have gotten creative with revenue streams. 2020 saw a record number of musicians partnering with brands of all sizes for engaging content opportunities, and we feel that trend will continue in the new year.
More artist collaborations. Hip-hop has long understood the power of artist collaborations, but in 2021, other genres will follow suit. Much like brand partnerships, collaborations can bring together music communities to benefit artists and fans alike. More artists than ever are working on new material from home, and without live music, many have more opportunities to experiment with different sounds and ideas. Seeing more collaborations arise from this moment seems inevitable, leading to exciting new music for audiences.
Jobs are coming back, but there is a twist. One side effect of COVID-19’s impact on music was the loss of countless jobs. While some will return as vaccine distribution rises and concerts resume, others are gone forever. We see an industry hiring spree starting by summer, but considering the number of current professionals looking to replace jobs they lost and the overwhelming amount of aspiring workers, competition for each position will be at an all-time high.
We cover all of this and much more at length in the video above. Enjoy!
With the most global downloads of any social media platform, TikTok is looking to evolve in new and exciting ways during 2021.
It’s good to be the best. TikTok is the largest social media platform on the planet. Every day, thousands of clips from the popular service are shared on competing platforms, and many of those videos earn millions of views. Kombucha Girl? That was TikTok. Lil Nas X and “Old Town Road”? TikTok gave us that as well. The career of “Mood” rapper 24kgoldn? TikTok heard him first.
The threat of bans hasn’t stopped the company’s growth, and many believe 2021 will be TikTok’s biggest year yet. Now, rumors are exploding only that TikTok will abandon its one-minute time limit for clips in preference of longer content. A recent report says the company is experimenting with allowing users to create content up to three-minutes in length. There is no release date at this time, and additional details are scarce, but it seems clear the TikTok will be evolving in the new year.
With this Music Biz News update, host James Shotwell explains the latest rumors. He also weighs the pros and cons of such changes, as well as the surprising reasons Bytedance may be looking to evolve. For more music industry news and perspective, subscribe!
Brought to you by Haulix, the music industry’s leading promotional distribution platform. Join today and receive a one-month free trial of the same service Bruce Springsteen, Slipknot, blink-182, and thousands more trust to share their music with the press. Visit http://haulix.com/signup for details.
The biggest star on the planet is taking the fastest growing social media platform by storm in an unusual and undeniably authentic way.
Billie Eilish did two incredible things last week. First, she released her new single, “Therefore I Am,” and immediately topped every song chart she qualified for worldwide. The track and its accompanying video earned millions of streams and mentions online, all of which reaffirmed Eilish’s immense celebrity.
The second thing received far less press, at least at first. On the same day “Therefore I Am” dropped, Billie Eilish posted her first TikTok video. The clip arrived without a press release or the use of her music. The account didn’t feature her name, and it was not verified when the first videos went live. She didn’t even use hashtags to gain attention. It was just Billie being herself for anyone lucky enough to see it, but news of the account soon got out.
It didn’t take long for Billie’s account to amass millions of followers and millions of hearts (the TikTok equivalent to Facebook Likes). Eilish did not post about her account anywhere, but the clips were undeniably authentic. The account wasn’t a diehard fan re-sharing content from other channels, but Billie herself making silly clips specifically for TikTok. That kind of content win is the stuff that social media companies’ dreams are made of, and it seemingly happened without pressure from Eilish’s team or TikTok leadership.
But why was it such a success? Rumors abound that Eilish and her team worked with TikTok to ensure the clips reached more people than the typical anonymous new account, but those allegations cannot be substantiated. The more likely answer is a simple one: People like what Eilish is doing with her channel.
When you look at Billie’s TikTok account, which is found under the username CoochieDestroyer5, you directly access the music superstar without the fake glitz and glamour of the music business. Eilish is making content for her fans using her cellphone and her personality. There are no directors or editors, or costume designers. More than any other platform, TikTok gives Eilish’s fans direct access to their favorite artist in the most unfiltered way possible. It’s deepening the connection and relatability of someone who lives a life that is unlike anyone else. It’s humanizing but also fun and weird.
In case it’s not clear, the big lesson here is that marketing today is all about connection. Forget trying to sell your merch or getting people to click a link. Before those things can happen, artists must first forge a relationship with people online. They need to become someone or some group that people want to see in their timelines. They need to be viewed as friendly, relatable, and above all else, human. If musicians can accomplish that, then they’re miles ahead of everyone else.
Just days after the US Department Of Commerce announced plans to ban TikTok, the social media app lives on thanks to a potential sale.
TikTok is fully operational in the United States as of today, September 22. The social media app, which was set to be banned last Sunday, was spared its untimely fate thanks to a last-ditch effort from Oracle and Wal-Mart to purchase the company over the weekend. President Trump has approved the sale in principle, but conflicting reports from the companies involved leave many questions unanswered.
According to Variety, virtually every person and every company involved in the acquisition of TikTok disagrees on the terms of this deal. The deal approved by Trump allegedly makes Oracle the cloud provider and host of TikTok. That means the company will move its data stateside, and that U.S. citizens will control the data.
Bytedance, the parent company of TikTok, whose Beijing headquarters are at the center of the platform’s controversy, disagrees.
What isn’t disputed: Oracle plans to take a 12.5% stake, and Walmart will get 7.5% in pre-IPO equity in TikTok Global. The new company will be based in the U.S. and run on the Oracle Cloud platform. ByteDance will continue to maintain control over the A.I. algorithms that power the TikTok app’s video recommendations (and which ByteDance uses for the similar Douyin app, available in China). The deal values TikTok at as much as $60 billion, according to reports by the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News.
Trump previously claimed the only adequate deal would be one where a US-controlled TikTok. ByteDance claims it will retain majority control, as it believes the remaining 80% of pre-IPO equity belongs to them, but that might not be true.
To make sense of this, Music Biz News host James Shotwell put together a video explaining how we got here and what may happen next.
