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TikTok is winning the race. You'd have to be either dead or dumb if you haven't taken note of the impact it has had on the music industry since its 2016 debut. According to a technology firm that tracks online activity, in 2021 the platform surpassed Facebook and Google as the most popular destination on the internet.
It is not by chance that Spotify's annual "Spotify Wrapped" report revealed that the top five most-streamed songs in the U.S. on Spotify were all trending on TikTok last year. If that does not send you running to upload your music onto the platform, maybe the fact that over 175 of the songs that trended on TikTok last year also charted on the Billboard Hot 100 will.
While TikTok is not exclusively a music app, in an interview with Music Business World Wide, the platform's Global Head of Music, Ole Obermann said “The dream is that an artist is able to find their voice and find that first community on TikTok...and then they become famous enough where they are able to get a record deal or perhaps even a publishing deal off the back of that." Straight from the camels mouth, TikTok wants to help you build a community around your music so that you can become famous.
What was originally viewed as a children's app has become THE trendsetter in today's music market. As reported in businessinsider.com, "according to Spotify, TikTok played a role in everything from inspiring playlists and bolstering streaming numbers for rising artists to revitalizing songs from generations past."
Music Business World Wide noted that a study TikTok commissioned MRC Data to undertake in November 2020, revealed that "75% of TikTok users in the U.S. said they used the app to discover new artists, and 67% said they were more likely to seek out a song on a streaming platform if they heard it on TikTok."
If you are a Musician or a Producer make your 2022 goal getting your ass on TikTok! Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.