Sixty years earlier, a similar sequence played out with TV and movies. Evan Puschak details this in one of his YouTube videos: early YouTubers were trying to get TV-famous and, in turn, made content that was similar to what you’d see on TV. I’ve seen countless TikTok influencers push their YouTube channels in order to be YouTube famous, where the perceived legitimacy (and money) is. Let’s assume that most musicians use TikTok as a marketing engine to get famous elsewhere. But, what would it mean if that were the case-to make music primarily for TikTok? The upside of TikTok starts with questioning a big assumption: TikTok virality is a means to an end-you can’t just be TikTok-famous. TikTok is a major development in audio media So if Tiktok isn’t leading to mainstream success, does it do any good for music at all, or does it simply reduce it to sound bytes? Yet it’s hardly as much of a secret sauce for success as popular culture would have us believe. It seems so promising that musicians would be remiss to not let it affect the music they create, pandering to TikTok’s preference for memeable lyric snippets and danceable choruses. It was the new SoundCloud, the place where artists get discovered. TikTok has been held up as a beacon of hope-a shortcut to fame that doesn’t rely on record labels or luck. It’s hard to make it as a professional musician (see our essay about how often musicians progress from small venues to large ones). Let’s look at the number of milestones met by each of the 125 musicians who went viral on TikTok. The milestones we tracked for emerging artists: Spotify playlisted new songs, Signed Record Deal, Charted with new songs, 1M+ Spotify Monthly Listeners, 100K+ YouTube Subscribers, 100K+ Instagram Followers, Played Live Show, Played Music Festival Played Live Show Signed Record Deal Charted with new songs Spotify playlisted new songs 100K+ Instagram Followers 100K+ YouTube Subscribers 1M+ Spotify Monthly Listeners Played Music Festival We tracked 8 milestones that could lead to a sustainable musical career. Let’s see how the new artists who went viral on TikTok fared outside the platform. TikTok virality needs to lead to something bigger: a sustainable career as a musician. When Lil Nas X blew up on TikTok with “Old Town Road,” it didn’t seem “real” until at least some of the traditional markers of success followed: a record deal, touring, streaming, charting, and radio play. But after seeing the data, it seems to me that TikTok (and its algorithm) doesn’t have a strong claim that new musicians go viral on its platform.įor many musicians, going viral on TikTok is just the first step. To some people, this might seem like decent odds: of the hundreds of thousands of sounds on TikTok, 1,000 songs surpassed 100,000 posts, and 12.5% of those songs were from emerging artists. Savage by Megan Thee Stallion Not Afraid by Eminem Dancing in My Room by 347aidan PJ by ppcocaine Toosie Slide by Drake Dynamite by BTS Upside Down by JVKE Stunnin’ by Curtis Waters 125 Savage by Megan Thee Stallion Not Afraid by Eminem Dancing in My Room by 347aidan PJ by ppcocaine Toosie Slide by Drake Dynamite by BTS Upside Down by JVKE Stunnin’ by Curtis Waters FEWER TIKTOK POSTS MORE TIKTOK POSTS of those TikTok viral songs were from artists who had yet to have their big break. Electric Feel by MGMT Electric Feel by MGMT Bootylicious by Destiny's Child Bootylicious by Destiny's Child Bound 2 by Kanye Bound 2 by Kanye We found about 5,000 songs that were popular on TikTok in 2020. Most of the music that went viral on TikTok was from artists who were already popular, well before 2020 and even TikTok’s founding. at least 100,000 We needed a threshold for what’s bona fide TikTok viral, so we decided on with at TikTok posts 1,000 This left us with viral TikTok songs. least 100,000 We needed a threshold for what’s bonafide TikTok viral, so we decided on songs with at TikTok posts least 100,000 We needed a threshold for what’s bonafide TikTok viral, so we decided on songs with at TikTok posts a song ones. Long scrolling data visualization showing 5,000 songs, then 1,000 with over 100,000 posts, then 125 that were from emerging artists.
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