One of the fastest growing social media phenomena in recent years has been the Short Form Video, with TikTok easily topping the table as the largest platform. The stats are impressive - since launching in 2017, it has grown to over a billion active users*. Other major platforms are also starting to offer their own Short Form Video capability with Instagram Reels and Youtube Shorts as prime examples. The attraction is easy to see - with ubiquitous and highly capable smartphones anyone can be a content creator. The apps are free for the consumer and easy to use. Within minutes you can share a good-looking video for the world to watch.
Music is an essential part of these videos – indeed TikTok grew from the acquisition of a lip-syncing platform called musical.ly, and much of the early content was based on dance challenges. Few videos are posted without music of some kind and the app uses AI to encourage selection of appropriate audio fragments based on the video contents.
So, we have an incredibly popular platform that uses a lot of music. Surely this must be really good news for artists and record labels? TikTok signed license deals with most record labels and distributors in 2020, so provided you are signed to a label or subscribed to a distributor your music should be available on the platform and the route for royalty payments is established each time your song is used on a video. However, each use will only generate a fraction of a Spotify stream (since only a fraction of the song is used). According to figures disclosed** by distributor Hit Songs Group DBA in 2019 each use generated $0.030. Bearing in mind the multiplier is not about the number of times a video is viewed, but the number of times your music is selected for a video creation it is unlikely an artist will make a large direct income stream from TikTok. The potential for a popular video to create a viral spin-off for the soundtrack somewhat offsets the miniscule payment rate, and you could consider each time your song is selected as a showcase promoting your music.
TikTok is a useful platform for artists in other ways though. It is a great way to engage with a global fanbase by creating your own informal content, offering a behind-the-scenes glimpse of your work or a preview of what is coming up. Often it is just a way to let your personality shine through and strengthen the connection with people who will pay for your music in other ways. When viewed in this way it is an inexpensive form of promotion with a massive potential reach, although there is an necessary overhead in keeping the stream of content fresh. On the other hand, fans can easily stay up-to-date with their favourite artists and follow their activity with very little effort. A new TikTok video may well be the trigger for a music stream or a merchandise purchase.
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