It wasn’t that long ago that artists largely depended on radio stations toscore a hit. In 2022, attention on the radio helps, but it is mainlyTikTokkers that you have to pack. The social medium, extremely popular amongteenagers, has had a major impact on the music industry this year.
A playful video idea or a choreography that is easy to imitate that iscirculating on TikTok: nowadays an artist doesn’t seem to need much more toscore a hit.
If anyone has personally experienced the power of this app in the past year,it is the Armenian singer Rosa Linn. Despite only twentieth place in theEurovision Song Contest, her song went viral on TikTok soon after the final.Numerous videos appeared on the platform with an accelerated version of _snap_but the original also became a hype.
The counter has now reached 400 million streams on Spotify. In comparison: thewinning Eurovision song by Kalush Orchestra from Ukraine has around 40 millionstreams. Only Arcade by Duncan Laurence (which also became a TikTok trend)is the only Eurovision song with more streams than snap.
Hits from new artists
Rosa Linn wasn’t the only relatively new artist to get a big boost this yearthanks to TikTok. Japanese artist Joji already had a few streaming hits to hisname when he managed to reach an even larger audience this year with Glimpseof Us. TikTokkers began to doubt their own relationship because of thelyrics. Partly because of this Glimpse of Us in the United States one of thebiggest hits of the year.
Singer Lauren Spencer-Smith came to american idol did not go beyond the top20, but scored with Finger Crossed a bigger hit than many a talent showwinner ever did. She made good use of TikTok by warming up her followers withsmall pieces of the song. By the time the full track was released, Spencer-Smith’s millions of streams were already flying.
The number abcdefu by the American artist Gayle was in the highest regionsof the charts for months at the beginning of this year, also in theNetherlands. The angry number addressed to her ex was used en masse by TikTokusers who themselves had a bone to pick with a former lover.
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Taylor Swift and Beyoncé also lean on TikTok
Even the most established artists on our planet can benefit from a TikToktrend. Taylor Swift’s new album midnight didn’t necessarily need the app tobe a success. Still, it was very welcome for team Swift that TikTokkers ranoff with the phrase ” i t ‘s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me_from thenumber _Anti Hero.
Meanwhile, Sam Smith scores one of the biggest hits of their career with thesong Unholy with Kim Petras. The song already scored on TikTok when only afragment of the song was available. Since the full version appeared onSpotify, it has been one of the most listened to songs worldwide non-stop.
Both Beyoncé and Lizzo have benefited from the power of TikTok choreography.With singles Cuff It and About Damn Time dances were devised byinfluential TikTokkers. It helped the records to the top of internationalcharts.
Old hits return
TikTok not only offers space for new artists and hits, old songs are alsobeing given new life. The second life of Running Up That Hill (A Deal WithGod) of Kate Bush was primarily due to, of course Stranger Things. But alsoyoung people who have never seen an episode of the hit series were introducedto the song through the many creations on the app.
Lady Gaga is currently having a hit with a song from 2011. Blood Mary doesnot appear in the series Wednesday before, but users of TikTok edited itunder a scene from the Netflix hit. Et voilà, Lady Gaga is raking in millionsof streams a day again.
Tom Odell’s love song AnotherLove from 2012 took on a new meaning afterbeing used in images of both the war in Ukraine and the protests in Iran.
The Dutch pop group Ch!pz is also in the spotlight again. The number 1001Arabian Nights was provided with a new choreography by TikTokkers. Even KimKardashian and her daughter North did the dance steps.
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How the music industry is dealing with it
TikTok opponents consider the platform to be the death of music. They statethat you only need to deliver a catchy fragment to score a hit. Recordcompanies have of course also found out that there is money to be made onTikTok. This can lead to artists and songwriters being commissioned to createsomething that has viral potential.
In addition, speeded up and slowed down versions of songs are now officiallyreleased following TikTok success on a regular basis. This was the case, forexample, with Lykke Li. Songs by the Swedish singer went through the roof onthe app several times thanks to the delayed versions. On Instagram, Lykke Liexpresses gratitude for the renewed interest in her music. Still, you maywonder to what extent these distorted versions are still her own creations,which also score better than the original.