Early in the year 2020, Zoi Lerma first heard Benee’s song “Supalonely” while she was employed at a bagel shop in Los Angeles. She danced to the song and posted it on TikTok since she was so moved by it. Since then, her video has gotten over 45 million views, turning her into a TikTok star and assisting Benee in becoming a massive star.
Since then, “Supalonely” had been used in over 5.7 million videos since September 2, thanks to the hundreds of TikTok users who posted them.
TikTok is becoming a must-have marketing tool for musicians and record labels. Songs that have been out of the mainstream for decades can rise spontaneously on the app. Marketers can also engage influencers to make a song go viral, resulting in a flood of user-generated content from their followers. Some musicians even arrange private listening sessions with TikTok influencers to gain traction on the app.
A global team works with artists and record labels to negotiate licensing deals with rights holders and develops innovative ways for TikTok to translate its cultural influence into recurring revenue.
“TikTok has really become a critical part of artist storytelling,” said Kristen Bender, SVP of digital strategy and business development at Universal Music Group, during a webinar on TikTok’s impact on the music industry.
“Our labels have been extremely leaned into the platform.”
For some, the constant focus on TikTok can be burdensome. Artists such as Halsey and Charli XCX have lately posted videos in which they voice their displeasure at being asked to make TikToks by their labels.
Taylor Upsahl, a performer, stated that balancing social advertising with traveling and producing and recording new songs may be “really stressful.” In addition, not every artist enjoys spending time on TikTok.
“TikTok has now become a whole other part of our job that takes up such a significant amount of time,” performer Upsahl said. “As artists, we’re all still in a transitional phase of like, ‘Okay, cool, how do we find time and energy to now be essentially content creators and influencers?'”
However, the industry’s fascination with TikTok is not unreasonable. Songs that go viral on TikTok frequently chart on the Billboard 100 or Spotify Viral 50. According to a November survey done for TikTok by the music-analytics business MRC Data, 67 percent of the app’s users are more likely to seek out songs on music-streaming services after hearing them on TikTok.
TikTok has become a destination for labels to promote new releases and back catalog tunes. Various artists and labels collaborate with TikTok’s team to arrange private listening sessions with creators to promote a song before its release.
As Miley Cyrus prepared to release her single “Midnight Sky” in the summer of 2020, her team collaborated with TikTok to schedule two videos.
Similar events have been attended by singers such as Khalid, Demi Lovato, and Marshmellow. A listening session with creators might assist an artist’s marketing team to understand the types of films or song snippets that may break through on TikTok.
