TikTok: The Good, The Bad, The Paradox for the Song Creator.
A balance needs to be struck in the fight for technological advancement vs protecting the interest of intellectual property owners.
In 2019, we know TikTok as the machine that breaks music. Videos with kids dancing over music contributes to the virality of certain records giving them the social boost equatable to millions of streams. As labels and artists alike are looking for songs to connect and reach a bigger audience, TikTok campaigns have led to the success of some of hip-hop’s biggest records over the past couple of years. The impact of the music-infused tech company will only grow over the course of the next couple of years. Earlier this year Sensor Tower reported that TikTok hit 1 billion downloads worldwide in February, 100 million of which were in the U.S.
The biggest song of this year and maybe of all time, Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road,” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, stayed at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 19 weeks, breaking the all-time record. TikTok should be given credit for the virality and growth of the song. In it’s purest form, TikTok is a springboard for artists and labels to create attention through personal campaigns that people put their own spin on to create global awareness on the internet. It…
