![]() TikTok has helped boost music streaming numbers, and record company revenue, to new heights. With a ban, it could all disappearĪs the Biden administration weighs a ban on the app, many budding entrepreneurs fear losing a tool that has helped them build a robust customer base. You’d have to go back to the days of ‘TRL’ on MTV to find a platform capable of moving the needle the way TikTok does.”īusiness For some, TikTok is a path to riches and the American dream. Yes, he continued, “labels do sometimes overindex on things that work, but at the same time, we’ve never really seen anything work the way TikTok is working. “They want to see that an artist has some foundation to build on.” “Companies want to invest in fan bases,” he said. Werde agreed that label executives have become too reliant on TikTok, but understands the impulse. They want to go back to building artists,” Daniel said. “I definitely hear rumblings from the big labels that it’s not as worth it to chase those songs. ![]() Now several years removed from TikTok’s initial burst, Daniel feels a shift from the label side is already happening, noting how it’s relatively easy to have a song go viral but harder for the artist to sustain momentum beyond the initial interest. Labels and A&Rs have become increasingly reliant on TikTok to sign new artists and market their existing ones (which not everyone is happy about). People would just migrate to a different platform and watch the same thing.” “But I think there would be a small percentage of naysayers. “I think the TikTok algorithm is really good at feeding you content that is relatable, and another platform may be less effective in that respect,” Daniel said. Should TikTok be banned in the U.S., there’s potential for a significant migration to one or both of those platforms (or Spotify’s new TikTok copycat, which allows users to scroll through snippets of songs and playlists catered to their taste). While TikTok was the first (and, many feel, the best) to develop a discovery-based algorithm centered around short form videos, heavyweight competitors Meta and Google have released similar products in Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, respectively. TikTok currently boasts 1 billion monthly active users worldwide, 150 million of whom live in America. What effect a shutdown would have on the music industry is up for debate. (Kevin Mazur / Getty Images for iHeartRadio) “There’s two issues that have publicly united politicians in the last six years, and they’re both music - one is Ticketmaster, and the other is TikTok. “I do think there’s a possibility, which is more a comment on my lack of faith in our current leadership than any comment on what I think should happen,” Werde said. Still, both say there’s a realistic chance the government follows through with the ban. They’re not experts in it.”īoth Daniel and Werde called the hearing “theater,” after the members of Congress provided no evidence of actual misuse by the Chinese government. “It’s not really their fault - the people grilling TikTok, they probably just got on the app when they started the investigation. “Whenever there’s something involved with music, like the, it feels so weird because the people asking the questions are not that familiar with what it is,” said Jonathan Daniel, founder of Crush Music, which manages the careers of Miley Cyrus and Green Day among others. Last Thursday, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle peppered TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew during a congressional hearing, demanding answers on everything from data privacy to drug use while generally appearing unaware of how the app actually worked. ![]() Government officials have called the app a “national security threat,” citing the potential for China to force Bytedance to turn over the data of its American users, or spread misinformation to turn its citizens against its country. Earlier this month, the White House endorsed a bill that would give President Biden the authority to ban TikTok in the United States, or force ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns the app, to sell to an American company. In the United States, however, TikTok faces an uncertain future. “Anyone could break on TikTok, and anyone did break.” “TikTok came along though, and really turned that notion on its head,” Werde continued. ![]() Major labels, and other companies and artists with substantial marketing budgets, were really advantaged on Spotify. “But I don’t think it did, because when you lower that barrier of entry, it becomes very difficult to break through. “In the early days of streaming, people said it would democratize music,” said Bill Werde, who directs Syracuse University’s Bandier music program and publishes the Full Rate No Cap newsletter. Is America a freer place with TikTok, or without it? There’s no such thing as a social media giant America should love Entertainment & Arts Commentary: Sorry, TikTok.
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