Trending Tunes: How TikTok’s Platform Economy is Reshaping the Music Industry

By Sofieke de Loos

Introduction 

Music is a crucial aspect of human life, capable of reaching and touching us in various ways. You might hear a song on the radio, in the supermarket, at a festival, or as a recommendation from a friend, and it may become your new favorite song. With the rise of social media over the past decade, people are confronted with music almost every moment of every day. Every video, reel, or snippet contains a song, and while scrolling on your phone all evening, you might hear 50 different songs. This is particularly evident with the social media app TikTok, which experienced a significant rise in popularity during the 2020 pandemic. A core characteristic of this app is the use of music, either as background music or as the focal point of the video. Users of the app often sing along with the lyrics to convey a certain meaning or think of a silly little dance that fits the song. These trends get repeated over and over again until everybody seems to know the song. This raises the question of how the app may have transformed the music industry. In this research paper, I aim to investigate the consumer behavior of TikTok users and how this phenomenon has changed the marketing of music by labels. The most popular hits of our time seem to be determined by platforms such as TikTok, rather than solely by record labels, especially when reviewing how nearly all popular songs are trending on the app. This paper will explore the history of TikTok and how digitalization has led to the creation of this platform of creativity, where consumers play a bigger role in music marketing. It intends to analyze these developments using concepts such as the platform economy and prosumers to answer the following research question: How has TikTok’s platform economy reshaped the marketing strategies and creative processes within the Western music industry? 

History of TikTok 

TikTok is a social media platform that allows users to create and share short videos. It offers easy-to-use editing tools that allow anyone to engage in video editing. TikTok has a large database of licensed songs and sounds that people integrate in their videos. This short-form videos originally got popular in 2013 on a similar social media app called Vine, that allowed users to create 6-seconds videos (Britannica). This app, not unlike their video style, was short-lived. Just a year later, a new app became popular. Musical.ly took over the torch from Vine that allowed users to make longer videos and mostly focused on lip-synching and dancing on popular songs. The app was bought by ByteDance, who merged content and user accounts to the newest app TikTok in 2018, what would quickly take over the world. Like its predecessors, TikTok is a social media platform where users dance and lip-sync to songs. However, it also functions as a platform for comedic and even educational videos. The app was being used worldwide, which led to the creation of an intercultural space where people can form opinions together about popular or social events and therefore also music. Opinions and ratings indicate what works will be accepted in the public discourse. Therefore, consumption and communication on TikTok leads to taste formation that will determine ratings of the music. TikTok, thus, became a community where people from all over the world come together. It has algorithms that creates a specific ‘For You Page’ (FYP) where users receive videos that fits their interest and ideological standpoints. Because of this, it also creates smaller communities within the app with like-minded people. This powerful algorithm fosters an addictive quality to the app, which may explain its widespread popularity (Radovanović 52). The content that you get is catered to the you and you alone based on your interests and favorite topics. The FYP endlessly recommends new content, and the app is set up for viewers to keep on scrolling, causing them to constantly interact with new content (Kaye 61). These algorithms have been proven useful for record labels, because the knowledge of the customers was limited before the app, which means that the marketing strategies of labels have been lacking a personal aspect. However, according to Salo, Lankinen and Mäntym, “Due to the digitization of music, emergence of social media technologies, and popularity of social media, marketers can now reach potential music consumers via social networks.” (24). The algorithm of social media apps, such as TikTok, has made it easier for labels to deliberately target audiences to promote music using discovered data.  

On the other hand, traditional intermediaries of creative products such as record labels have suffered in the rise of the platform economy. Platforms could rapidly replace them, as they grow exponentially faster than traditional intermediaries (Jewell). Platforms do this by accumulating data about what kind of content consumers want and anticipate on this found data. According to David Hesmondhalgh, the internet is inherently democratizing with a liberating effect that allows for more participation and control by users, which is at the expense of professional institutional businesses (qtd. in Nordgård 36). This means that digital networks allow for more control, creativity and participation of non-professionals, which is a threat to corporate power. An important term within music networks on platforms is ‘connectivity’ between companies and their audiences. According to Wikström, “Traditional music networks had a low level of connectivity, where the music companies could control the flow of information to the audiences” (qtd. in Tandberg 5). This means that the important of the internet in modern society had led to an information flow in the online network, which causes a decrease of control for music companies. Hesmondhalgh elaborates by arguing how the power of institutionalized cultural production is eroding, which leads to a more decentralized, democratic system of communication that could change the cultural industries (263). This is mainly the cause of the rise of digital networks that is breaking down the boundary between producers and consumers that highlights ‘user-generated content’ in cultural production (Hesmondhalgh 264). Platform and information-based economies has put the consumer forward into the process of production. This leads to a new form of communication called ‘produsage’, which is a combination of the terms production and usage.  

TikTok utilizes the concept of ‘produsage’ or ‘prosumerism,’ which refers to participation in online environments that transcends the divide between passive consumption and active content creation (Radovanović 52). Social media engages with a greater involvement of fans in how music is being distributed, promoted and consumed. Therefore, the line between intermediaries, corporate institution and fans have been blurred which makes it more difficult to categorize who is a producer or consumer, leading the path to the new function of the ‘prosumer’ (Nordgård 10). The digital atmosphere of the app is created by the users, or ‘TikTokers’. The users both create and engage with other people on this app. This is mainly done using functions such as ‘stitch’ or ‘duet’ videos, which encourages collaboration and creativity. These types of participatory cultures were already present on digital platforms like YouTube through “vernacular creativity, mundane participation as a means of collective cultural participation (Burgess 2006) and produsage, collaborative and continuous building and extending existing content” (Kaye 60). As a result, anyone can engage in creative activities, as they exist beyond traditional cultural value systems or high art. Instead, creativity operates as a collaborative endeavour within a platform that has evolved into a new form of economy. 

The Power of Platform Economies 

The developments in the music industry have been rapidly changing due to the developments in technology, that offers new affordances. These developments all began with the launch from Web 1.0 to 2.0, which has made revolutionary changes for digitalization and the use of technologies (Vizcaíno-Verdú, de-Casas Moreno and Tirocchi 152). Since then, technology has played a huge role in the creation of music and the creative industries as a whole. Especially talking about the relation between the consumers and the entertainment industry. This ultimately resulted in the development of TikTok, which features elements like the For You Page (FYP) and algorithms designed to rapidly spread a song to a wide audience. According to Hesmondhalgh who uses the definition by Oxford English Dictionary, an algorithm is ‘a process or set of rules to be followed in solving a problem, especially by a computer’ and he calls upon the importance of these algorithms as they influence the knowledge, information and entertainment users are exposed to (268). The platform of TikTok affords for a quicker distribution of music and allows the creative class to form connections that will form a greater network in the rise of platform economies. This is a new kind of market strategy in accordance with the rise of social media. According to Sangeet Choundary, who is the leading expert in platform economies, “Platforms are fundamentally changing the economics of content creation and the assumptions that go into determining what content will succeed and what will not.” (Choudary qtd. in Jewell).  

TikTok is an example of a platform economy, which is an economy that emerged as response to the rise of the internet and the movement of algorithms. This, then, created an infrastructure on which platform-based markets can operate (Kenney and Zysman 61). Thus, this economy is facilitated by digital platforms that is based on the connection between the consumer and supplier of cultural goods. TikTok utilizes a platform economy that enables consumers on the platform to impact the market. Jewell explains this in her article about the interconnectedness of consumers on the app and how they produce creative content themselves. She writes, “the companies that create a platform to organize the content market occupy the most powerful position in the content market today. In effect, they determine what content is shown and to whom” (Jewell). Thus, the app itself is in control of the dissemination of music and becomes a system of recommendations 

Platforms can create a lot of value by making use of the content market as they make use of the infrastructure of networks on a social media app (Jewell). Contemporary platforms, such as TikTok, are “reconfiguring the production, distribution, and monetization of cultural content in staggeringly complex ways” (Duffy, Poell and et all 1). Therefore, platforms become new intermediaries in the music industry that influence the creation and the consumption of music. Platforms make use of the network effect, which means that they push forward a self-reinforcing cycle where creators attract consumers, and consumers attract creators (Jewell). Thus, the users of the app contribute to the growth of the network and platform of TikTok and become part of content-creation, instead of watching it from the sidelines as a passive consumer. Vizcaíno-Verdú, de-Casas Moreno and Tirocchi elaborate on this development by calling upon the concept of cultural convergence in their article that have emerged from popular and mass culture. They explain it as followed, “a phenomenon that combines markets and consumers through the media and Internet, providing a set of platforms that have created new opportunities for user-generated content or UGC” (qtd. By Jami-Pour 151). This means that social media has changed the way how information is produced and consumed providing a place for User-Generated Content (UGC). As consequence to this social phenomenon of platformization of cultural production, digital platforms affect the creative industries from an institutional perspective (Duffy, Poell and all 2). This new role that platforms play in the market can afford new forms of creativity and production. TikTok is currently a popular platform with rich cultural content. So, how exactly does TikTok make use of the platform economy to use it for marketing strategies? 

TikTok As Market Place 

In the last couple of years, we have seen a significant growth of the influence of TikTok on music charts. There seems to be a correlation between what songs become popular on the social media app and which songs rests on the top of any music charts. As most of the top songs can be recognized as songs that trended on TikTok. Due to the digital developments that constituted to the creation of the cultural relevance of the app, it has become a cultural industry itself. Collie and Wilso-Barnao elaborate on this by concluding how, “TikTok, on the other hand, operates as a digital enclosure (Andrejevic, 2007) designed to capture and transform creative play into a promotional apparatus and form of digital labor, with algorithms as the organising force” (Collie and Wilson-Barnao 18). Therefore, these features of the app foster an environment of creativity and community. An important factor that should be named, in the question how the music industry could have changed so drastically because of this social media app, is the COVID-19 pandemic. The lockdown caused the world to be locked up in their own house. Many musicians were forced to put their careers on hold. The making of music is an inherent collaborative activity. Especially if we are talking about the recording of music. Many factors are important to consider, such as the musicians specialized in different instruments, sound engineers, producers, marketing, and so much more. Thus, when forced to stay at home, musicians like many others, had to think outside the box to be able to still do their job. The digital space seemed to be the answer and a platform like TikTok could fill the void to still collaborate with other musicians. For example, the Duet function, where creators could pair or chain other videos to create new music while staying at home (Kaye 59). This has caused an acceleration in the popularity of the app and situating it as a platform of creativity and labor. This environment then evolves into a space for marketing and labor, as community is vital for cultivating creativity. Richard Florida argues that in modern society, this is most effective when the community consists of weak ties rather than a close-knit group (5). Social media inherently carries a sense of anonymity, lacking personal, real-life connections. Thus, TikTok serves as an excellent platform for creativity, functioning as a community built on weak ties.  

The app can even serve as a platform for small artists to kick-start their careers and create their networks. Radovanović explains in her article how “Successful (self-)promotion on TikTok leads musicians into the arms of the readily available and ever-watching eye of the music industry.” (63) The journalists Estelle Caswell and Matt Daniels researched the ‘TikTok-to-Spotify pipeline’ and what happened to artists after going viral on TikTok. They concluded after researching this phenomenon, in relation to the networks in the music industry, how these new developments on TikTok has caused fundamental changes to the music business. The journalists discovered how a quarter of the 200 new Spotify artists found their rise through TikTok with many receiving a record deal based on a viral moment on the app (Radovanović 63). Thus, TikTok is now being used as tool to start a music career as it provides opportunities for independent artist to do their own marketing. This phenomenon started at the peak of digital optimism in the early 2000s where it became more common for artist to achieve success via the web, like YouTube, without the needing to be in the inner circle of the music industry (Hesmondhalgh 298). However, the idea of going viral and obtaining success in the music industry on the internet as exponentially grown due to the rise of social media platforms, especially in combination with the affordances of TikTok. TikTok has provided new ways to be discovered. This is mostly due to the FYP function, which is a network that connects all users that participate on the app. As creator you can choose to post your video for only friends or to go on the FYP. In this case according to Collie and Wilson-Barnao, “content can go viral without a user having many followers, which introduces a democratizing effect to the app, no matter how illusionary this might be, given the aggressive algorithmic management engineered into the process” (180). Thus, through the affordances of TikTok, it becomes easier and easier to start your music career from your bedroom.  

Platformization influences the nature of creative labor as they incite to find new routes to audiences and visibility. It could be argued that the social media app is used by labels as marketing tool, as users of the app seems to do their work for them. An artist themselves can use the app to find a like-minded community of fans who would be interested in listening to their music. They can do this by sharing details about the creative process, creatively presenting their music on the app, and engaging in the comment sections (Radovanović 62). Artists seemed to have noticed the appeal of the consumer on TikTok, and they actively engage with their fans on the platform. This new element of personal relation has seemed to bring the musical artist and fan closer. This increase in connectivity and an easier access in the music industry on this app enables fans to remix, create and engage with their idol’s content, which is not something that has been seen before on a social media app (Tandberg 5). Thus, TikTok creates a space where fans can be creative as well. Another strategy could be to share a ‘snippets’ of a song and ask influencers to engage with it (Radovanović 62). A snippet is a certain section of song of about 15 seconds with the intent to share it prematurely on the internet to peak interest. This snippet could then be used by influencers on the app to create a viral dance challenge or trend with the song, boosting the song’s popularity. An example of this would be the promotion of the album Brat by Charlie XCX, who’s song “Apple” was popularized due to a viral TikTok Dance. The app is used to create and remix already existing sounds, which means it promotes imitation performance as form of collaboration (Vizcaíno-Verdú, de-Casas Moreno and Tirocchi 154). This then also creates ‘trends’ by the repeated use of sounds and the attached creative idea that fills the ‘for you page’ (FYP) of users. TikTok can, therefore, be seen as an app for great exposure. This marketing strategy, thus, makes use of the participatory culture and the produsage within communities on TikTok to promote music.  

Conclusion 

In this research paper, we have explored how musical artists use the social media app for marketing, as the app operates as part of a platform economy. The affordances of this app, like the FYP and Duet function, help musical content creators find their target audience and establish genuine connections that lead to community building, without the need for the traditional music industry. The platform encourages participatory behavior, blurring the lines between users and producers. The rise of the ‘produser’ on the app has prompted changes in the music industry that could lead to the erosion of traditional intermediaries, like record labels. TikTok is a space for community building, heavily influenced by algorithms that bring like-minded people together. This community fosters creativity, strengthened by the existence of weak ties among users on the platform. The app facilitates quicker distribution of music, where the connection between artist and fan becomes closer, as both contribute to content creation. The contemporary infrastructure of the app, based on platform economies, has paved the way for new strategies in music creation and promotion. Artists leverage the connectivity and information flow provided by the app to enhance or launch their careers, potentially eliminating the need for traditional intermediaries. Thus, TikTok, as a rising platform economy, has significantly shifted the structure of the Western music industry, using its affordances to foster a creative community 

Bibliography 

Unknown's avatar

Published by cultureweeklyradboud

Leave a Comment