The TikTok Ban and Its Effect on the Music Industry

See the previous post for details about the TikTok ban.

TikTok has been the driving force behind the music industry for the past few years. During the peak of COVID-19 when creators were stuck at home quarantining, it launched the career of music artists, most notably Beabadobee, PinkPantheress, and Gayle. Not only did TikTok jumpstart many careers through viral soundbites and clips, but it also gave already established artists viral songs and moments that helped further their careers to new heights. Creators get royalties if their sound goes viral on TikTok and that virality also drives their streamings, creating more revenue. Concerts also go viral on TikTok compelling more concertgoers to purchase tickets for an ‘exclusive, once-in-a-lifetime performance’. This has made concerts much more profitable as merch flies off the stands and ticket prices are well into the hundreds and sometimes even thousands. In 2023, the Eras Tour took TikTok by storm with many creators beginning to earn money off of live streams of the show. Ticket prices were reported to be an average of a whopping $1000 USD, almost double the original average of face-value tickets. The tour grossed a little over 2 billion dollars.

TikTok has helped drive the discoverability of artists as many smaller artists (without label back) have had the chance to showcase their talent to the world. The app made putting out music more accessible to artists and took power away from traditional record labels. 

There were, however, downsides to this ‘easy’ fame. A subgenre TikTok users affectionately dubbed as ‘TikTok music’ began to arise out of the sheer amount of short, sometimes ‘meme’ified clips of cringey pop music being made in an attempt to go viral. It directed many people to only listen to these fast-paced clips rather than whole albums (or even songs) where true artistry was often showcased. Instead, artists capitalized off of short attention spans and catchy, overused hooks. 

It isn’t clear what this TikTok ban will do for the music industry. Smaller artists without label backing are at the highest risk of losing their fanbase as people pivot to try all the new platforms attempting to replace TikTok. There likely won’t be much of a dip in streams for larger artists but if people do decide to switch to a new platform, it will be another few years before the virality that people experienced on TikTok will be replicated. In the meantime, it may be worth investing in traditional marketing activations as people seek to turn away from their devices.