How TikTok Changed the Music Industry
There is a good chance that Lil Nas X, Olivia Rodrigo, Jack Harlow, Doja Cat, Walker Hayes, and Lizzo would all be successful music artists even if TikTok had never been invented. But each of these artists benefited from TikTok in their own way over the last few years and owes at least some of their success to the social media app.
It’s become easy for people to see how TikTok changed the music industry because of the success that music artists like Lil Nas X have enjoyed. All it takes is one TikTok song dance trend for an artist to go from being someone relatively unknown to being someone on the cusp of musical greatness. Check out a few ways TikTok has impacted and changed the music industry forever below.
Provided Musicians With a Great Place to Release New Music
Before TikTok emerged as one of the leading social media platforms, there were plenty of places artists could release new music online. They could put up a new song on YouTube or arrange to have a new album posted on Spotify. But there were often a bunch of hoops that artists had to jump through to release new music in these ways. TikTok made it much simpler for them to release new music without putting in too much effort on their part.
Thanks to TikTok, all musicians, including both established artists and indie artists, now have a place to put out new music they want the world to hear. SZA’s Big Boy, for example, spent its fair share of time at the top of the TikTok charts. You can’t talk about how TikTok changed the music industry without mentioning this aspect.
Gave New Music an Opportunity to Spread Organically
It isn’t enough for musicians to simply release new music nowadays and hope it catches on. With recent reports suggesting up to 100,000 new songs hit the internet each day, artists need to put their music in a position to succeed by finding creative ways to market it. This is another example of how TikTok has changed the music industry, helping artists, both old and new, find success within the music industry.
In the past, artists and their record labels spent a lot of time marketing music to convince people to listen to it. TikTok helped change this by allowing musicians to spread their new music organically online. Sometimes, a small snippet of a new song can drum up a wave of excitement when it’s posted on TikTok. In other instances, a new song can inspire a TikTok song dance trend and encourage people to shoot their own TikTok videos using it, which helps push it further than it would have gone before.
Reach New Audiences
Some artists, like FIFTY FIFTY, have also seen shifts in popularity thanks to TikTok. The group was already seeing success in South Korea when their song, Cupid, went viral on TikTok, pushing them into international recognition. This illustrates how TikTok changed the music industry and the way it operates.
Created Stronger Connections Between Artists and Consumers
Dance trends are a great way for songs to gain popularity on TikTok. As people attempt dance challenges to different songs, that spreads the song to the dancer’s audience in addition tot he musician’s audience. Others, like Sarah Hester Ross’s Savage Daughter, become popular through stories, makeup, or costumes.
Lil Nas X’s rise is a perfect example of how TikTok changed the music industry. A decade ago, Old Town Road might have come and gone without garnering much attention. But because it transformed into a TikTok song dance trend and because Lil Nas X put in the necessary work to create a loyal fan base online, the stars aligned to help turn him into a star.
There is no question how TikTok has changed the music industry, leaving its mark on both established and emerging artists. It provides a way for musicians to release new music and easily spread it around the world while also growing their audience. Keep your ears open; you never know when the latest dance challenge will turn into the next big hit.