PODCAST JAQI M

The speaker talks about how TikTok is a popular platform for discovering new music and promoting artists. They mention that while it may seem like a great marketing strategy, it could potentially harm an artist's career in the long run. They give the example of an artist named Yeet who gained popularity through TikTok. However, not all artists have the same success, and some become one-hit wonders. They mention an article that discusses how TikTok is creating more one-hit wonders. They then interview an artist named Wala who talks about how TikTok has benefited their music career but doesn't see it as a long-term promotion strategy. The speaker concludes by wondering about the longevity of viral artists on TikTok and if they will have successful careers beyond their initial popularity. So I'm sure everyone is pretty much aware of the new social media platform, TikTok. I can't lie. I'm an avid user of it. Mindlessly scrolling with an occasional laugh or chuckle gives my stressed college student mind some peace at times. Frequently while I'm scrolling, I come across a new sound or song that I haven't heard before. Whether it be a new dance to the song, the background music of a photo dump, a pretty girl lip syncing to it, or the artists themselves promoting it, there are so many ways to discover new music on TikTok. Right now, many artists opt to promote their music on TikTok, hoping that it will be the new trend for the moment and hopefully gain a lot of exposure for them. While on the surface level, this might look like a great marketing strategy for an undiscovered artist, I actually believe there's a chance it could be really harmful and possibly detrimental to their career moving forward. It's a bit tricky because there are no telltale signs to tell whether or not the virality is enough to change the outlook of an artist's career. One example of this is the artist Yeet. If you use TikTok and you think you've never heard of Yeet, I'm groovin' in it, yeah, I'm closer than I imagined, yeah, I'm fuckin' the best, yeah, I'll buy me the crown, yeah, I'll- Know who I'm talking about now? For a lot of TikTok users and people who listen to music in general, Yeet sort of popped up out of nowhere and is now a high-earning mainstream artist. In this case, the virality of his music was enough to change his career. Unfortunately, this isn't the case for all artists, and some artists actually receive the short end of the stick. Let's talk about One Hit Wonders. There have been a lot of articles written about this topic, and one particular article I'd like to mention is from Billboard.com. So this article actually goes into detail on how TikTok is creating more One Hit Wonders. It gets into how over the past 20 years, the percentage of artists who failed to follow up on their initial hit has been constant, but in 2020, it began to rise. This was also the year TikTok became a highly used social media platform. Coincidence? Hmm, I think not. Now for this portion, I thought it would be interesting to bring on someone who could give me and anyone listening an inside scoop into how artists are deciding to use TikTok to promote their music. So today, we have the very talented upcoming artist, Wala, with us. How about you introduce yourself? What's up everyone? I'm Wala, and I'm glad to be on the show. So Wala, I understand you have a few songs out. How are you choosing to promote your music? Yeah, I mainly use TikTok to promote my music just because of the fact that I had a pretty decent following on there, so it's pretty much more easier. Okay, so what has TikTok done for your music? TikTok has definitely benefited my music career. I've seen an increase in traction, in terms of streams, you know, plays and attention. So overall, it's just been like, you know, beneficial towards my music. I'm glad to hear that. Now thinking long term, do you see yourself continuing to promote on TikTok? Long term, I definitely do not see myself promoting on TikTok, just because of the fact that like, it's not really good for longevity. And also, I don't want to be like, that one artist that's like, oh, he's TikTok made. All right. Thank you for coming on to my podcast. No problem. Thanks for having me on the show. On a concluding note, since TikTok is an app based on changing trends, and every artist striving to be the hot new thing, promoting one's music on the app could cause them to yes, be the cool new trend, but after that trend dies down, what happens to their unfamiliarity and freshness? I'd be super interested to see what kind of longevity these viral artists end up seeing. Do they actually go on to have full successful careers? Or is TikTok more of a big one hit wonder factory? I guess only time will tell.