Accessibility to music is at an all-time high. The rise of streaming and the availability of music software means listening and creating music is at your fingertips. Social media platforms like TikTok allow for people to access the sounds of new artists at a rate faster than ever before.
The major role music plays in the use of TikTok means that it is subjected to an accelerated trend cycle where there is a constant demand for new microtrends to replace the last. Within this trend cycle, there is a short period of time where a piece of content goes from being a new and exciting discovery to something that is overplayed and boring. This reality is echoed by fans of artists, stating how their favourite artist blowing up on TikTok has ruined the listening experience for them.
Musicians must now carry the burden of acting as their own team, in the hope that each new video makes it into the newest trend cycle.
TikTok is a tool for the promotion of artists. Before the days of social media, as we know it now, it was labels who took control of promoting artists to wider audiences. Today, however, musicians must now carry the burden of acting as their own PR team, in the hope that each new video makes it into the newest trend cycle. It’s as if now filming the behind-the-scenes process and posting the best clips into the algorithm is more important than the quality of the song itself. Due to this need for a personal and one-on-one relationship with fans, more time is spent by artists developing themselves as internet personalities rather than actually pushing the boundaries of music. This development of an artist’s personality through TikTok can seem unnatural at times and irrelevant to the final product.
This reality can seem bleak to new artists, as there is usually a need for artists to already have an established social media presence before they are signed to a label. There is also less money in the digital music sector, as the current commodity of attention sells for much less than physical vinyl and CDs. While labels of the past once received criticism for exploitative relationships with artists, the current reliance artists have on social media and streaming services in furthering their careers has left many worse off. It is understandable how people who once held the dream of making music as a career are easily put off. Overall, this contributes to the lack of new and diverse music entering the mainstream.
The evidence and effects of viral song clips have surfaced in real-life concerts. One example from last year occurred when Steve Lacey stormed off stage whilst breaking personal property due to fans only singing to the viral snippets of Lacey’s ‘Bad Habits’. This chaotic display shows the emotional effects on an artist after being reduced to a mere 30 seconds of their discography.
There is also less money in the digital music sector, as the current commodity of attention sells for much less than physical vinyls and CDs.
There is the case, however, of artists being propelled out of nowhere into fame through the powers of TikTok. Take Lil Nas X’s ‘Old Town Road’ for example. This viral phenomenon was able to build the foundation of this artist’s success. Since the success of this song, many artists have seemed to develop a promotional formula based off of this success in an attempt to emulate it for themselves. Artists will make songs with the focus of creating a catchy soundbite that will fit the length of a TikTok video in the hope that it will be used by users.
Artists will make songs with the sole focus of creating a catchy soundbite that will fit the length of a TikTok video.
The further pooling of social media into the creation and consumption of music seems to be imminent as TikTok plans to soon release their streaming service ‘TikTok Music’. This can only tighten TikTok’s current grasp on the music industry making it reasonable to suggest that this too will be at the expense of smaller artists.
