Social media platforms like TikTok are revolutionizing the music industry, shaping trends and how an artist or song goes viral.
Known as an app that teenagers use for dances and silly videos, TikTok has become a massive platform for music discovery and promotion. However, it’s not limited to influencing users — some say it’s reshaping the entire music industry.
“I use TikTok and listen to music every single day, and I feel like TikTok makes certain songs more popular than they would be otherwise and influences a lot of people to change their music taste,” said Taylor Becker, a sophomore at Carlmont High School.
Historically, a song’s popularity depended on radio airplay, music television, and physical album sales. Today, social media has made promoting music and introducing new artists much easier; apps like TikTok with a short-form video format can make just a few seconds of audio launch unknown songs to the Billboard charts.
“A big portion of finding songs I listen to is from hearing a snippet of it on social media and then searching it up and finding the full song,” said Anaya Misri, a sophomore at Carlmont High School.
This pattern is very common among teenagers. Many users point out that the platform provides great opportunities for songs and artists.
“I think music trends from social media are a good thing, especially for artists because their music gets out there more,” Becker said.
While TikTok helps many artists promote their music, some argue that it has changed how artists make their music, with the pressure of advertising on social media.
“A lot of artists change their goal when they’re producing music, and they try to make music so that it can become a sound, or that there can be a good audio bite that goes viral,” said Isabelle Risha, a DJ and sophomore at the University of California, Berkeley.
Risha also pointed out that the rapidity with which TikTok makes songs go viral has taken away the value of a song becoming popular.
“There’s this fleeting feeling to music now where songs that used to be so popular on TikTok and everyone knew and cared about kind of fade into obsolescence really fast because there’ll be a new song from a 15-second viral video, and we’ll forget all about the last one,” Risha said.
In addition to complaints about the fast pace of the algorithm, social media has presented additional challenges and downsides for some artists.
According to Business Insider, music marketers have stated that some artists have faced increasing pressure to make their own content on social media to effectively promote their music, despite feeling overwhelmed and fatigued.
Even big names like Taylor Swift aren’t immune, with her latest album blowing up on the app — not with praise, but with criticism. TikTok users have flooded the app with intense backlash, showing how the platform can build and damage reputations.
Now, TikTok is further developing the music industry due to its faster and shorter media content, continuing the rapid growth of social media and the evolution of advertising. This growing popularity has affected many people, who think it’s too much.
“Music used to be a very specialized interest, but now everybody has TikTok, everybody has streaming services, and it’s not difficult to be a music person anymore,” Risha said. “That’s good in a lot of ways, but sometimes it makes for everyone thinking they’re a music expert, which could or could not be true.”
