How TikTok transforms the music industry for the better
Popular app helps to promote music in unique ways
Social media platforms such as TikTok have greatly impacted the music industry, positively affecting the way people find new songs to enjoy.
TikTok has become a means to promote music outside of both streaming and radio, one of the first of its kind since MTV.
In the Dec.18, 2020 article, “Can TikTok rival MTV’s Heyday for Gen Z” by Andrew Unterberger for Billboard, music labels are described as having recognized TikTok’s unique potential to promote music, providing a unique way for music to be found and commercialized.
“Just as MTV forced labels in the ’80s to respond to its success by creating music video divisions out of their promotions departments, labels [such as EMPIRE] have now shifted their focus to TikTok,” Unterberger said.
Songs from various genres and decades have found themselves gaining popularity through the app, helping to expand the commerciality of different kinds of music across the board.
In the Feb. 21, 2021 article, “How TikTok is changing the music industry” by Stacy Anderson for Quartz, songs such as the 1977 release “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac have reentered the Billboard Top 100 through viral videos featuring the song.
“Usually, such a dramatic spike in an artist’s popularity would result from a deliberate promotional push,” said Anderson. “All it took was one [man’s TikTok] and Fleetwood Mac was storming the charts again.”
Recent updates on Spotify have attempted to capitalize off of TikTok’s role in popularizing music.
In Jonah Kruger’s March 8, 2023 article, “Everything We Know About Spotify’s Vertical Discovery Feed,” Spotify has reinvented its recommendations in order to be more similar to TikTok.
“New suggestions will pop up as long as your fingers can scroll,” Kruger said. “That’s where the TikTok comparisons come into play; think of it as your Spotify “For You Page.”
Music from various genres and decades will rise in popularity due to the effectiveness of TikTok’s algorithm and will help to expand the music tastes of many.
TikTok will only increase in relevance when it comes to how people find and interact with music. The social media platform offers a new and improved way of commercializing music in the modern era.
