How TikTok turned the world of art and why it is so important for the music industry – read the new material.
TikTok reduces the 15 minutes of fame to 60 seconds and is gradually becoming the main music platform, where anyone with a camera and a microphone can make themselves known. Trends that have already made history, teenagers earning millions and, of course, a platform for incorrigible dreamers – all of this fits into one app. But first things first.
What Is The Social Network Tiktok?
In fact, TikTok is a Chinese social network, which was originally created as a platform for publishing short videos and conducting online broadcasts. Everything is very simple and straightforward. However, “skill and labor lead to fame” – said generation Z and turned the application into a machine to promote their creativity. In TikTok, there is no one specific theme for creating content. Users post anything they can think of – dance trends, acting lessons, parodies of movie plots, ASMR and many other videos whose creativity is amazing. Don’t believe it? It was at TikTok that musical theater enthusiasts wrote a musical based on the cartoon “Ratatouille.” The creation of videos for entertainment ended with the production of the first Broadway online show. And that’s just the beginning!
Looking ahead, we want to note the simple mechanics of the platform and a user-friendly interface for both shooting video and working with music. There are different sound effects – and the compositions in the set, and the base on which the audio tracks are located, and the use of music from the phone. On the platform itself, there is a whole catalog of tracks that are used to create videos. You can add them during the editing process. Also, don’t forget about the cool feature in the app – borrowing audio tracks from other users. You’re free to take the soundtrack you like and scratch it off in your own way.
What’s The Point Of Tiktok And The Music Industry?
TikTok is not a music service, but music plays one of the key roles on the platform. In fact, it just plays there. Users create crazy mash-ups, write songs about pet lizards that become hits, and record duets with Grammy winners like Mark Ronson or Ed Sheeran. Music through the TikTok lens is about freedom from labels and equal opportunity for everyone, regardless of the labels society puts on people. Over the past couple of years, TikTok has democratized the distribution and consumption of music as much as possible, thanks to algorithms that make it easy to make yourself known, thereby accelerating the emergence of new names in the industry – just look at rising star Olivia Rodrigo and her 2021 anthem “drivers’ license.
It was thanks to TikTok that the single debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Moreover, the song about heartbreak and lonely road races became a real meme and a symbol of the platform, when users started making “reply” videos, rewriting Olivia’s lyrics with added verses for, for example, boyfriend, traffic lights, neighbors, cat (just a small part!).
TikTok and the music industry are a nuclear mix, but watching music evolve and free itself from stereotypes has never been more exciting.
What About Musicians’ Copyrights?
As the modern world is finally beginning to realize the importance of copyright protection, musicians and their management are paying more and more attention to it, especially in social networks. One thinks of VKontakte and the gigabytes of content added there illegally. TikTok works well in this regard, and with copyright they are more or less cool. Most of the music content is on the platform legally. Contracts are signed, track catalogs are added. Videos are checked for illegally added music and, if anything, they are blocked right away, which shows that the creators of the platform take artists’ copyrights seriously.
However, in TikTok, there is quite often a problem with the wrong artist’s name. A track can get millions of uses on the service, but the confusion with the authorship leaves users guessing: “Old Town Road is sung by user1115 or Lil Nas X?”. This confusion is due to the function of users borrowing audio tracks from each other, which we talked about earlier.
Why Is Tiktok Attracting More And More New Music Artists?
We’re not just talking about talented teenagers dreaming of a future Grammy and recording a hit with their idols, but also about established musicians like Charlie Puth and Jared Leto. TikTok is like a magnet, attracting industry titans and guys still unknown to anyone, for one reason – in 60-second videos they can become anyone, racking up millions of views and getting support from people all over the world. It’s no secret that recognition is important for creative people, and TikTok has plenty of that. In front of thousands of users, musicians fire their managers and go free sailing, hit the top Spotify charts and get a date from Miley Cyrus. Isn’t that utopia becoming reality?
In addition, TikTok helps aspiring musicians overcome the financial barrier, because all you need in order to be heard is a good camera and a microphone. And a little more talent and diligence, because the secret to success on the platform is getting into “Recommendations” (a continuous stream of videos that are created individually for each user based on the content they like).
TikTok is changing not only how we consume music, but also how we create it. Today’s musicians, determined to record a potentially viral song for the platform, reduce the length of songs and make them more accessible for trimming individual fragments. For example, Lil Nas X’s TikTok hit “Old Town Road” is only 1:53 minutes long (Eminem and his 5-minute “Lose Yourself” are nervously smoking in the sidelines). The world of music is constantly changing, and there’s no denying that TikTok is at the forefront of that change. Musicians around the world are strategizing in new ways, changing the style and approach to their product. All because the platform is really taking over the music industry, opening up the artists we already know from a different angle and making way for future legends.
So if you haven’t already done so, I advise you to download TikTok and be the first to listen to hits from rising stars who are setting the direction of the modern music industry. Staying up to date is a good idea for a musician who wants to stay on trend. After all, as practice shows, what you hear in TikTok today will be heard everywhere tomorrow.