6.1 Music

Influence of Social Networking on the Music Industry

Dan Whateley of Insider online (August 2022) explains why TikTok has become a go-to platform for discovering new music. Record labels, music marketers, artists, and other creators are all flooding the app with songs. As Whateley explains:

TikTok is an essential promotional tool for music artists and record labels. Songs can rise up organically on the app even if they’ve been outside the mainstream for decades. Marketers can also hire influencers to help a song take off, sparking a wave of user-generated posts from their fans. And some artists even set up private listening sessions with TikTok influencers in the hope that it will help new songs gain steam on the app.

The company has a global team that works with artists and record labels, negotiates licensing deals with rights holders, and builds new ways for TikTok to convert its cultural influence into recurring revenue. In July, it rolled out a dedicated music-streaming service called TikTok Music in five countries.

Its music ambitions could end up ruffling feathers at the record labels, particularly as it breaks into overlapping business lines like artist services. For instance, the company has done direct deals with artists and courted SoundOn staffers to “identify, sign, and develop new artists”; to help “supervise the production of records and oversee all aspects of the recording process”; and to “design live show and merchandise strategies for artists globally.”

TikTok can avoid tension with the industry by showing its partners how its various experiments in music will lead to paydays for all. Its ability to maintain close relationships with the major rights holders is critical as the parties negotiate licensing agreements. “If they want to be a long-lasting platform, they need to kind of lock arms with artists in the music industry,” Jonny Kaps, cofounder and CEO of the independent label +1 Records, told Insider. “There’s money to be made all over the place here if it’s done in collaboration.”

For artists, the hyper-focus on TikTok can be draining. Performers like Halsey and Charli XCX have posted videos expressing frustration at being asked to make TikToks by their labels. One performer, the artist Taylor Upsahl, told Insider it can be “really stressful” to be expected to balance social promotion with touring and writing and recording new music.

But the industry’s attention on TikTok isn’t unfounded. Songs that trend on TikTok often end up charting on the Billboard 100 or Spotify Viral 50. And 67% of the app’s users are more likely to seek out songs on music-streaming services after hearing them on TikTok, according to a November 2021 study conducted for TikTok by the music-analytics company MRC Data.

“TikTok has really become a critical part of artist storytelling,” Kristen Bender, SVP of digital innovation strategy and business development at Universal Music Group, told Insider during a webinar on TikTok’s impact on the music industry. “Our labels have been extremely leaned into the platform.”

Artists are also using social networking sites to develop a more intimate relationship with fans. Over the past several years, Twitter (now X) has become hugely popular among musicians and fans alike. The microblogging service enables users to send a tweet message—a short post of 140 characters or less that is displayed on the author’s profile page and delivered to his or her subscribers. Musicians regularly post on Twitter, providing their fans with real-time updates about their daily lives and promoting their musical endeavors.

Social networking sites are just the latest technological development in the music business. An in-depth look at the history and evolution of popular music throughout the last century will help explain some of the current processes and trends in the industry.