Is TikTok Killing the Music Industry? How to Navigate TikTok as a Music Creator

Have you ever made a TikTok video using someone else’s sound? Or, have you jumped on the newest TikTok music or dance trend to a hot hit on the platform? If so, you could have played a part in shaping the next generation of music sensations.

TikTok has become a catalyst for viral music. As a platform renowned for propelling short-form video clips and sounds globally, the hottest social media app on the block has begun to reshape the music industry in 2024.

TikTok’s influence has redefined how we discover music – moving away from CDs and radio features, artists are now popularised at the swipe of a finger. With user-generated content at the heart of the platform, the quickest journey to viral success is to release a shareable track as a TikTok sound and let the algorithm do the rest.

While this non-traditional avenue of music promotion is relatively new, the results are outstanding. In 2021, over 175 songs that trended on TikTok were featured in Billboard’s Hot 100. Better still, studies now suggest that 67% of TikTok users are more likely to engage with an artist on a streaming service after discovering their sound on the platform.

However, while many new-found TikTok music stars enjoy the euphoria of viral stardom, concerns surround TikTok’s new dominance within the music industry. With artist compensation, copyright, and integrity all up in the air, music labels are beginning to fight back.

So, is TikTok the ultimate tool for industry growth or a career killer for rising recording artists? Let’s deep dive into TikTok’s transformative influence on the music industry.

Social media has revolutionized talent discovery. While we once relied on TV talent shows to find the next viral voice, social platforms like TikTok have become the newest stage for rising stars. 

TikTok music is a relatively new addition to the music scene, but social media has been a catalyst for finding music talent for the last decade. For example, remember when Justin Beiber popped up on YouTube in 2008? Or Shawn Mendes on Vine just a few years later? 

Artists and their record labels quickly recognized the potential for global promotion as the popularity of social media grew in the early 2010s. Social platforms soon democratized the music industry and became great outlets to showcase talent without needing a label, contract, or gatekeeper. Now, more up-and-coming artists are sharing their work through user-generated content than ever, leveling the playing field for stardom discovery.

“Today, social media platforms provide artists with a direct line of communication to their fans, instantly owing them the opportunity to share updates, teasers, and behind-the-tent content. Artists can now build anticipation for their new music, engage with fans in real-time, and create a sense of community around their work,” say experts at YellowBrick.

While YouTube was once the figurehead of online music discovery, TikTok music continues to take the social music boom one step further. From showcasing real-time concerts on TikTok Live to allowing creators to monetize their globally streamed sounds, is TikTok the ultimate tool for brand growth in the music industry?

TikTok music videos consist of a moving image or single frame, often accompanied by a sound – either an original sound created by the user, a royalty-free music track, or a sound taken from TikTok’s massive library of viral audio that other platform users have uploaded.

While we are used to sharing viral images and videos on social media, the rise of the ‘viral sound’ has become popularized on TikTok. Content creators on the platform can now use any audio posted by another user to accompany their TikTok music video. Each use of this sound propels it further across the For You Page to encourage more original creations based on the audio. To boost your TikTok views, consistently using trending sounds and engaging audio can significantly increase your video’s reach and visibility on the platform.

From skits to songs, many sounds have gone viral on TikTok. Better still, the sound doesn’t need to be new to spread quickly across the For You Page. Take the 1970s song ‘Dreams’ by Fleetwood Mac. This once-huge hit gained virality again in 2020 when it was shared across TikTok. Soon after, it charted in Billboard’s top 100 for the year.

Did you know that user-generated content on TikTok generates 70% more engagement than branded video? By creating sharable snippets of their songs for UGC videos, a music artist raises their chances of being heard on the app or featuring in a TikTok trend.

When successful, a song can go from no streams to Spotify’s Top 50 in just a few days. Here are some examples of the impact a viral sound can have on a TikTok music artist’s success:

By now, most of us will have heard of Grammy award-winning music artist Doja Cat. However, did you know that TikTok music kickstarted her career as a recording star?

In 2020, Doja Cat was an up-and-coming artist known by just a few for her early work. After releasing her newest track, ‘Say So’ during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, she took to TikTok to share snippets of her latest track.

Only a month after the song’s release, the sound went viral on TikTok after platform user Haley Sharpe posted a short dance video to the audio. As other TikTok creators jumped on board to debut their versions of the viral dance, the sound quickly generated 20 million shares on the platform.

Since then, Doja Cat has become one of the biggest names in the modern-day music industry, with over 100,000 daily streams on Spotify.

While Doja Cat’s sound went viral on the back of a UGC dance trend, Cat Janice’s rise to fame as an artist on the platform came from an emotional incentive to gain more streams of her song “Dance You Outta My Head.”

After being diagnosed with terminal cancer, the music artist released a song to raise money for the son she was leaving behind. Touching the hearts of TikTok users, the song went viral as a sound, used in a whopping 2.7 million videos in just a few weeks.

Commenting on the success, she captioned a TikTok video. “I woke up in the middle of the night to find out the song is CHARTING Apple ITUNES as now #5 in the WORLD and #1 in multiple countries … THANK YOU WORLD FOR LOVING MY SON AND I SO MUCH!!!!”

Dance You Outta My Head has since been played on radio stations across the globe and reached number 5 in the charts in 2024 from TikTok’s influence alone. 

TikTok may be a catalyst for new musical talent, but how about stars already signed to a label? All TikTok users will have noticed that at some point or another, a video that once had a ‘sound’ now appears silent on their For You Page. Why is this? Well, this can be for a number of reasons.

TikTok itself can remove music if it breaches community guidelines. Alternatively, they can be pulled from the video app by creators and their management for issues related to copyright and fair compensation.

Historically, music artists signed under a label would receive royalties when their song was played on the radio, within a TV show, or even streamed on a platform like Spotify or Apple Music. While these payments differ based on the track’s coverage and the artist’s size, music labels have spent years fighting for fair compensation for their clients.

TikTok, however, has revealed that they pay just $0.03 per stream of an artist’s sound within a video, meaning that at least 1000 videos on the platform would need to feature the song for a creator to earn just $30.

“If they want to be a long-lasting platform, they need to kind of lock arms with artists in the music industry,” says Jonny Kaps, CEO of independent label +1 Records. “There’s money to be made all over the place here if it’s done in collaboration.”

TikTok musicians have faced some big challenges this year as their songs went viral online – most notably the platform’s rollercoaster relationship with music industry giant, Universal Music Group (UMG).

Universal Music Group (UMG) is one of the world’s largest music labels. Managing big names like Taylor Swift and The Weekend, they have one of the most influential voices within the industry. So, when UMG and TikTok fell out in January 2024, the social media music boom started started to plummet.

The row began after UMG revealed that TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, refused to make a deal with them regarding artist royalties. Believing that their signed artists were not being compensated fairly for TikTok’s use of their work, they quickly pulled 20-30% of the most popular tracks from the platform.

When UMG pulled their music from TikTok it caused quite the stir amongst TikTok music artists. For rising stars who have only recently signed with the label, TikTok has been one of their largest assets in promoting their work and making a name for themselves.

Australian TikTok music artist PeachPRC is an excellent example of this. Known for her honest music and personal connection with her audience, PeachPRC was first discovered by UMG on TikTok, where the largest portion of her fan base resides. So, when UMG pulled a number of her tracks from TikTok, she took to the platform to vent about it.

While she has not commented on the fallout outside of her TikTok videos, popular TikTok music blog @TheNewWine stitched her most recent UMG fallout video with this comment:

“This is the problem with what Universal is doing. They do not care about their artists; they are robbing their artists of their songs on social media, which is one of the main ways artists promote their music now, and not all artists are Taylor Swift, who won’t be affected by this. Some of them made a name for themselves on TikTok music and were discovered by Universal on TikTok.” 

In a wild turn of events, in May 2024, Universal Music Group (UMG) and TikTok announced a game-changing partnership that’s set to benefit UMG’s artists, songwriters, and labels in a big way. This new licensing deal will bring UMG’s music back to TikTok’s massive global audience of over a billion users.

The collaboration marks a new chapter for both companies, focused on helping UMG’s talent reach their creative and commercial goals. By tapping into TikTok’s top-notch tech and marketing skills, the partnership promises better earnings for UMG’s artists and songwriters, fresh promotional opportunities for their music, and cutting-edge protections against generative AI.

The alliance is reportedly focused on making UMG’s music shine on TikTok while giving the artists and creators the support they deserve – a win for TikTok musicians everywhere!

TikTok has laid the foundations for stardom for many rising music artists. With the ability to create a career overnight with one viral video, the platform promises success to keen music creators yet to ‘get their big break.’

However, for many rising stars, TikTok’s competitive nature and the pressure to go viral have begun to change how they approach their career progression. 

Has breaking into the music industry become less about talent and more about conforming to new audio trends? As we see musicians on TikTok swap quality for the quantity of sounds/videos they can create, are they being exploited by the viral algorithm? 

TikTok could be a case of ‘video killed the radio star.’ As the newest battleground for mainstream promotion, musicians on TikTok are forced to engage in the platform’s challenge culture and repeatedly jump on trends just to stay relevant amongst an online audience.

While the app teaches anyone how to become a music composer, creating music has become less about what the artist wants and more about creating a viral moment for a TikTok audience.

In recent years, we have seen artists as prominent as Halsey, CharlieXCX, and even Doja Cat, who saw her rise to fame on the platform, hit back at their labels for prioritizing an algorithm over their career.

Take singer-songwriter Halsey, for example. As an artist who initially found her fame as a musician on TikTok when it was known as Musicall.y, she has since commented on the pressure to keep up with TikTok’s algorithm as a mainstream music artist:

“Basically, I have a song I love and want to release ASAP, but my record label won’t let me,” she said in a recent TikTok video. “I’ve been in this industry for eight years, and I’ve sold over 165 million records. And my record company is saying that I can’t release it unless they can fake a viral moment on TikTok.”

“Everything is marketing, And they are doing this to basically every artist these days.”

TikTok’s grip on the music industry is yet to loosen in 2024, with many continuing to choose the video-sharing platform over their management for their best shot at stardom.

TikTok is a hub for virality, making it an excellent tool for music promotion. However, with the pressure to upload continuous content pushing artists to churn out new music at lightning speed, could the industry lose its magic?

Social media trends are certainly driving a new era of on-demand entertainment. The question is, will the traditional music industry survive, or will the future look more like a compilation of viral ‘sounds’ in a modern-day TikTok music scene?