Over the last few years, and especially the last few months, TikTok has become an increasingly popular app. It has been the perfect outlet for people to create all kinds of content. With a ‘side’ for pretty much any niche, you can filter your interests and customize your content. You can be on “Photographer TikTok,” “Comedy TikTok,” or even “WitchTok.” The possibilities on this app are endless, which is why so many people love it.
With its powerful algorithm, TikTok increases social mobility. It is designed to push out the latest clips from popular users, and the ‘For You’ page adapts to your likes, pushing content that it thinks you’ll be interested in. It’s also super easy to filter out the content that you don’t like by clicking the ‘not interested’ button. Constantly seeing content that you genuinely enjoy is why the app is so addictive. The app allows for thousands of people to view your video, no matter how many followers you have, which is incredibly important for artist discoverability.
Music will always be a crucial part of the formula to making an appealing video on TikTok. Many of the trends on TikTok are based on and help circulate specific songs such as TikTok dances, lip-sync challenges, and more. TikTok is great for reinforcing your hook, and we all know that repetitiveness and familiarity are critical in the success of selling a song, so finding the 15-60 seconds of your track that will inspire people to lip-sync, dance, and share is imperative for successful TikTok videos.
Although not all artists are guaranteed to build a fanbase over TikTok, the app has over 500 million active users, and its algorithm gives you a chance to share your song over and over and over. You are encouraged as a user to contribute to the circulation of songs and sounds. If you see a clip using a track you like, you click on the name of the sound and it shows you all the other videos from the app that also use this sound, as well as, the original person that created it. You can then opt to make your own video using that same sound, and keep the trend going. The duet feature on the app allows for people to create a video inside of a video, which is similar to a “reaction” video. So, you can ask users to duet your video that you’ve created, or you can duet another user’s video which is really great for your engagement, and if it features a song of yours, you’re likely going to reach double the amount of users.
Just like any other social media platform, engagement is key to growing your audience. The nice thing about TikTok is how easy that engagement is for both the user and the fans. There are many ways to engage with a video from liking to following to duetting to commenting to sharing to doing live videos, and all of it increases your engagement, which makes it a lot easier to be seen on the app. TikTok also has the ability to post when you want. Other platforms require a lot of planning, strategizing, and branding, whereas TikTok is a lot less formal. You can post whenever you want, and as frequently you want, and the algorithm doesn’t seem to care. It’s not as much about aesthetics as apps like Instagram are. It’s more like Vine, where the actual content itself is the most important.
In case you’re still a little weary on the actual effects that TikTok can have on your music, a TikTok artist made a video explaining that they had released a song back in 2018, and that the song overall probably got less than 1,000 streams. Now, fast forward to 2020, and that song jumped from barely having 1,000 streams through 2019, to suddenly getting over 238.6 thousand streams in 2020 because it was trending on TikTok! So, although it may not get you millions and millions of streams, it certainly can improve your statistics and get you some followers.
Not only is it great for releasing music, but TikTok is a great way to share information and be a part of a community. There are TikTokers who talk about music marketing, music photography, and even playlist curators who push out new music. It’s a whole platform filled with music lovers and people in the music industry who want to support each other and help get your music recognized. My personal experience with TikTok has been amazing for finding new artists to listen to, as well as becoming more connected to the music photography scene. I find so much inspiration as I scroll through my daily feed. My taste in music has definitely expanded since I’ve joined the app, and that’s another reason that I firmly believe that the app is beneficial for artists! Not only have I been exposed to artists who are putting out their own music on the app, but also to fans who are sharing their favorite bands and artists with the world. It’s like getting a personalized playlist curated for you every day, I love it!
There are so many benefits to using TikTok as a platform to share your music. Remember, that the app is built to circulate sounds, so create something catchy, or unique that will inspire people to share your content. And, overall, just have fun with it!
What are your thoughts on TikTok? Let us know in the comments below!
The For The Punks team has created a Spotify playlist of our favorite artists we’ve discovered through TikTok. We even took some suggestions from you, our readers! Be sure to check it out! We really do think there is something for everyone on this playlist.
