Vevo and TikTok have joined forces to launch ‘Trending on TikTok’, a weekly program similar to World Music Views Chart show that was launched in 2018. The show will showcase the music videos of popular songs trending on TikTok. This partnership will allow creators to gain more exposure and increase their reach, especially among audiences that don’t use TikTok frequently.
Trending on TikTok will be available across the Vevo network in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Brazil, and will be aired on Vevo’s FAST (free ad–supported streaming TV) channels during peak viewing hours. According to JP Evangelista, Senior Vice President of Content, Programming & Marketing at Vevo, the partnership is a great way to bring together two taste-making titans and showcase the power of fan communities on social media.
“We’re excited to kick off the new year with TikTok, which has become a powerhouse for music discovery for fans worldwide, driving music video viewership. When a song is trending on TikTok, people will actively seek out and watch that song’s music video on the Vevo network. Tapping into the creator economy was the next logical step in showcasing the power of fan communities on social media and how it fosters the music discovery process,” said JP Evangelista, Senior Vice President of Content, Programming & Marketing at Vevo.
He continued:
“We are combining years of tastemaking expertise with our understanding of viewership trends, and there is a huge appetite for short form content on TV, so we hope Trending on TikTok becomes a go-to show on TV.”
TikTok is now a full on digital music distributor where artist and rights holders can release their music on all digital platforms via their new service “Sound on”. If that’s not enough another addition to the service is “Pre-Release”; a new self-service feature that allows artists and rights holders to give TikTok listeners exclusive access to clips in advance of releasing their tracks.
SoundOn was launched last March as an initiative for independent acts to upload music directly and earn 100% royalties via direct payment. It can also distribute to other services such as Spotify, Apple Music and Instagram.
Pre-Release is a new self-service feature that enables artists to give TikTok listeners exclusive access to clips in advance of releasing their tracks. It aims to create a marketing opportunity to share a clip early and build momentum for viral moments, while encouraging fans to pre-save songs ahead of their official release.
A&R for TIKTOK’s new distribution/artist’s service company Naj Mullah said we will never see anything like this again in a tweet, “TikTok started a music distribution / artists service department. I’m the U.S. A&R manager, I promise y’all will never see anything like this again. TikTok has the highest DSP conversion rate of any social platform, & numbers aren’t close. Independent artists let’s break records!”
TikTok started a music distribution / artists service department. I’m the U.S. A&R manager, I promise y’all will never see anything like this again. TikTok has the highest DSP conversion rate of any social platform, & numbers aren’t close. Independent artists let’s break records!
— Naj (@Naj_Mullah) October 9, 2022
“Pre-releasing a song is a great way to test a track before its full launch,” said TikTok. “Artists can gauge audience reaction and find the most viral song clips to maximise sharing, listening and interaction.”
Naj followed up with a tweet saying that major labels are “hounding their artists to be on TikTok” for more than one reason but mainly because the platform is breaking records.
Majors are hounding they artists to be on TikTok more for a reason. We break records‼️
— Naj (@Naj_Mullah) October 9, 2022
In a September interview with Anthony Miller of Entertainment Report, U.K. dancehall rapper Stefflon Don said that TikTok is the reason Dancehall’s future is exciting.
“Dancehall is huge, especially since TikTok. I think when a Dancehall artist drops a song, it transitions to the world through TikTok straight away, like it’s instantly. Before it would have to travel, you’d have to be at a Dancehall party to hear certain songs, or you’d have to have Jamaican friends to hear certain songs. Now, it don’t matter what country you’re from- If you’re on TikTok, you’re going to hear the baddest Jamaican songs,” She told Miller.
While YouTube is still in the lead miles ahead as the world’s largest video streaming platform, with more than 2 billion users every month, TikTok revealed last September that it already has over 1 billion global monthly active users (MAUs) and was predicted to surpass that number this year.
In September 2020, YouTube hit back at TikTok’s closing in by launching its rival Shorts platform in India, the US, and expansions into Latin America, Canada and the UK. Shorts videos can still only be a maximum of 60 seconds long.
TikTok and YouTube aren’t just competing for users and creators, they’re also competing for advertising revenue as reported in Music Business Worldwide.
YouTube generated USD $8.63 billion in advertising revenues in Q4 2021 (ended December) and over $28 billion across the course of 2021.
TikTok, meanwhile, generated USD $4 billion in ad revenues last year, but aims to triple that figure to $12 billion this year, according to China based news outlet LatePost.
TikTok said that SoundOn is the only platform that allows artists to pre-release their songs to TikTok ahead of their official launch. Artists can create their own video and fans can duet, stitch or create videos to share with their friends. SoundOn pays out 100% royalties to music creators in the first year and 90% after that and provides a range of promotional tools and support. In a statement, TikTok said that SoundOn is “designed to empower new and undiscovered artists, helping them develop and build their careers”.
According to an MRC Data survey in 2021, 63% of TikTok users heard new music on the platform that they had never heard before, while 67% said they are likely to seek out a song on a music streaming service that they heard on the app first.
There is also a resurgence of interest in older music too. Reggae artist Ini Kamoze 1995 hit Here Comes The Hotstepper recently went viral on TikTok videos using the song and hashtags #hotstepper and #herecomesthehotstepper. Subsequently the song entered the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales chart in February this year. It peaked at No. 7 on the chart, before slipping to No. 9 and then to No. 25. It peaked at No. 1 on the US iTunes Reggae song chart and has since remained in the top ten.
The album Here Comes The Hotstepper also re-entered the Billboard Reggae Album chart at No. 10 in February for two weeks as a result of TikTok’s effect on the song. This after it had debuted at No. 1 on the chart in 1995.
TikTok is the 6th most popular social media network in the world according to data collecting website Statista and Reggae/Dancehall music is heavily used genre on the platform as revealed in a music report by TikTok last year.
TikTok has over 689 million active users and in their 2020 music year-in-review report, they revealed that more than 176 different songs surpassed 1 billion streams including Shaggy and Conkorah’s remix of “Banana.”
The remix of Conkarah and Shaggy’s Banana jumped 250 thousand views within a day.
Laa Lee had a viral challenge with his song Tip Innnah It streaming almost 13 million times with users making over 14 thousand videos doing the #tipinnahitchallnege at a rate of over 500 thousand streams per day. Compared to YouTube where the David Island and Everton Gentles music video for the same song only has 7 million views since December 2020.
Reggae-Dancehall music is not climbing as fast as Hip Hop which is the number one genre on TikTok but ti is growing.
In 2020 Drake’s Toosie Slide, generated a billion views in just three days, and WAP by Cardi B & Megan Thee Stallion did the same in just two weeks.
Although Hip Hop is the dominant genre with over 50 percent consumption, Music editorial lead at TikTok William Groger told Variety Magazine that, “There is also a list of ‘Unexpected Hits and Niche Discoveries’, where by TikTok’s community helped shape internet and IRL culture with these unearthed gems.”
Another highlight from report is that more than 70 artists have broken into the industry on TikTok with major record label deals.
Mura Masa’s ‘blessing me’ With Skillibeng, Pa Salieu Is TikTok’s First Song Of Summer 2022.
Over 170,000 “blessing me” videos have been uploaded by the creators on TikTok, most of which feature use Skillibeng’s verse.
Other dancehall artists to find local success on TikTok include Valiant who has since become a YouTube and Apple Music No. 1 artist and 1 Biggs Don.
Biggz, a native of Mandeville Jamaica was the main performer in a video posted by the TikTok account @otp_control. The video has since racked up over 4.2 million plays on TikTok while the song has been made into 127,000 thousand videos. It is one of the most popular music related videos to be made by a Jamaican on TikTok.
Since his video became popular, the Heart Academy student has been performing at stage shows across the island.
Biggz, 18 in an interview with Anthony Miller on ER said he just want to take care of his mother and buy himself a Crown(Toyota car)
Although not always the case, many of the successful songs on TikTok can be as a result of artists who use the platform to lead trends said William Gruger to Variety Magazine, “A major common factor among artists who broke and received deals from their activity on TikTok is that they are major users of the platform as well. These artists are engaged with their TikTok followers, leaning into trends on the platform and building relationships with audiences who support their music. Star examples of this include 24kGoldn who earned his first #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, Flo Milli’s breakout ‘May I,’ which inspired 1.3M creates, and Panama native Latin superstar Sech, who has over 1.7M followers earned from his frequent reaction duets and charming dance moves.”
Advertising Exec and former record label executive Steve Stoute said on the Earn Your Leisure Podcast recently that, “Really what you want is TikTok to be the place where you promote the song and then if you could go ‘you like that?’ you can listen to the full length song on Apple Music and one of these streaming platforms”.
Brands using TikTok
LifeSpan surpassed 15 billion impressions in less than a month according to Google Trends. The almost 100-year-old drink company became the talk of the world when TikTok creator Nathan Apodaca @420doggface208 casually drank a cran-raspberry drink on his way to work. After becoming famous due to the video, The Miami Herald reported that “Nathan “DoggFace” Apodoca is selling his iconic video as an NFT, or non-fungible token, in an auction…, his manager told McClatchy News”.
Since then other companies have encouraged workers to post videos to TikTok while at work.
