TikTok is probably best known for dance trends and other short videos such as challenges. One thing most videos, no matter if it is a wedding video, baby’s first steps, or whatever, have in common is the music the creator chose. It could be muted so you don’t hear it, but the fact remains, pick a popular song and you will see a wide variety of content using it. Creators do this hoping to ride on the coattails of a song, or audio, that is going “viral” on the platform. People want to be seen, they don’t care if it is via their actual content or picking the right music at the right time. Views are desired on the platform. In February about 12 hours from the time of this writing, millions of songs are set to be removed from the platform.
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How Music Effects Content
For the few that are not aware of how TikTok works, you create short videos, though some accounts have up to 30-minute limitations now and post them to the platform. During the posting process, you can choose a description, including hashtags, and add music to your clip to, hopefully, reach more people (such as fans of that song or singer).
Hashtags are a debatable source of views, but the music chosen is much more likely to be a source of views. Think of it this way, who is going to look for a common word like “life” but you, or your little group, spell it as “l1f3”? Now, who is going to search a platform such as TikTok for Billie Eilish or 2Pac and then look through the content that pops up?
Image source - Yahoo
Many creators go viral by not even using hashtags and choosing a popular song for their video.
This Is Nothing New for TikTok
A lot of people are scrambling to download their favorite videos – their own and by other creators. That is something you should be doing anyhow, TikTok can easily go away just like the countless other similar “short form” video platforms have in the last half a decade.
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Image source - Bing
Videos on TikTok are often muted during these negotiation periods only to later come back. The best thing to do is not delete your muted videos. Some will panic and do just that, fearing the muted audio will reduce their views and support from other users on the popular platform.
Who Really is in Control of the Music?
According to NBC News, TikTok is not willing to pay fair rates to songwriters and performing artists.
"TikTok proposed paying our artists and songwriters at a rate that is a fraction of the rate that similarly situated major social platforms pay," UMG said.
On NBC News’ website, they continued, - In an open letter to its artists titled "Why We Must Call Time Out on TikTok," UMG said: "Ultimately TikTok is trying to build a music-based business, without paying fair value for the music."
Image source - Daily Dot
It gets even more interesting as farther down the NBC News article, - "As our negotiations continued, TikTok attempted to bully us into accepting a deal worth less than the previous deal, far less than fair market value and not reflective of their exponential growth," it said.
UMG also alleges that TikTok attempted to intimidate it by "selectively removing the music of certain of our developing artists," while keeping "audience-driving global stars."
According to CNN Business it doesn’t look like Universal Music Group is going to fold to TikTok’s perceived value of their music catalog, -
“As an indication of how little TikTok compensates artists and songwriters, despite its massive and growing user base, rapidly rising advertising revenue and increasing reliance on music-based content, TikTok accounts for only about 1% of our total revenue,” the music giant said.
It seems TikTok feels they are too big to ignore, and that musicians and rights owners should be bending over backwards for the platform. It doesn’t seem that Universal Music Group agrees and is standing their ground on the issue.
Where do you stand on this? Are you even using TikTok? If so, what is your screen name so others can discover you?
I don't like TikTok or its imitations on YouTube, Facebook, etc.
I didn't like Vines back on the day, either.
I like content that gets to the point, but these streams feel too ADHD for my liking, if that makes sense.
As for the music conflict, it's clear this is more about corporate balances than rewarding artists. I'm not a fan of intellectual property laws in general, and these corporate battles just show how much control is seized by people with wealth and access to courts.
For a time, I enjoyed TikTok, making content using music (lipsyncing) and trying my hand at improving my confidence on camera (and leveling up my video/audio editing skills). Now, I completely agree with you on the way the videos hit.
Even though all platforms let creators go to at least a minute (TikTok allows up to 30 minutes for many creators), there are still tons of people that are doing the multi part B.S. with 15 to 30 second videos just to get views and followers. It is annoying and I simply block them.
At least with YouTube, you have the option to go to widescreen, long form as it is called now, content and enjoy the full story in one sitting.
TikTok is clearly moving from licensed music with how they push "information" videos now. I think it is more "your voice" content that they don't have to pay royalties or licensing fees to use is what they are really pushing.
It is sad to see how much power companies have over creativity. It reminds me of TLC doing an interview discussing their time at the top of the charts - they were splitting something like 35 cents per CD sold, less for singles, and even less for radio/television use of their music. Meanwhile, the corporation was selling those CDs for $15+ each, singles for $3+, and millions in licensing fees, collectively, for use of the music in movies and TV shows.
Just sad.
If TikTok paid artists directly without a corporate middleman, the artists would be extatic about the current royalties, I bet. A lot of hate goes to Spotify, too, but bands that take direct control over their music do comparatively well. I hope the era of corporate pop is fading, and independent artists will be able to use the internet to build audiences, crowdfund albums, and earn a decent living in a more diverse musical ecosystem.
I used to run an indie public relations company that worked with, at one time, over 10 indie artists (as well as other clients). From my experience, the one that went on to release more than one album barely made travel costs back from their merch/CD sales/venues that would book them. I worked with them on their 2nd and 3rd albums, potentially their final album as I have not heard anything else from them.
This was back in 2009 to 2014, a completely different time versus today where artists have so many more options to get their music out there in front of fans.
The problem I ran into helping these artists were varied. Some venues (clubs, dive bars, etc) had signed exclusive deals with various size record studios to only push their artists. Many radio stations were owned, at least in part, by record companies and would only play songs from a small group of very large record labels; not signed to them, not getting air time. Same for attempting to get their CDs in stores - national chains only stocked CDs from several record labels, again, not signed, not getting on those shelves.
The few places that carried the CD's of clients I worked with did well with them. When they were able to get in a venue it was often a single event that got booked into at least one more showing at a later date.
Just the universe did not line up for them. I like to think if they were to try again today, they would do far better.
It is the gamble. If you go out on your own for anything, you are just that, on your own. Many make it and are happy with the results. Sadly, the unsuccessful ones far outnumber those that did make it independently. Plus, these corporations give wonderfully huge upfront payments to get artists to sign long contracts - look at how it all effected Kesha for instance, though her situation involved abuse of power by those working closely with her.
I agree that it would probably be a lot different if more people did go independent with their music. Maybe a platform the size of TikTok can help make that happen for more artists.
I know I have discovered more new music by indie artists via TikTok than I ever hear on the local radio stations. Do they stick around for more than that one song? Usually no and I have no idea why (could be money, could be lack of support on the business side, etc).
I think, in the past, that is what has kept a lot of artists from going indie - lack of business-sense. They just want to make money so to speak. Signing with a big company alleviates almost all needs to understand how to run a business and promote music. The problem is, not all companies are looking out for the good of those producing the content they need to keep making money (same could be said of any company and their employees).
I do believe there is a market out there for indie artists to make a respectable living on their own. It just requires a lot more work on their part doing things not exactly connected to making music.
My library has hosted author workshops, and some authors are quite candid about the pros of big publishing houses. Indie authors are writers, editors, publicists, marketeers, and more. If this isn't all in someone's wheelhouse, and especially if a big publishing house will offer some serious promotion, it can be worth the loss of control and profit. It's just that until now, few have had the opportunity to choose alternatives and experiment. Print-on-demand through Amazon or Lulu are out there. Kickstarter and Indiegogo are just the tip of the iceberg for crowdfunding. With any luck, we are seeing the emergency of new artist opportunities for text and music alike. I'm optimistic on this front.
There are definitely some benefits to either option, most go for the company option for the security it provides. I self publish, and ghost write, mostly using digital formats for publishing and it is rewarding to see my work getting enjoyed by so many.
I would love to see options like Lulu or print on demand for music though. It would be rather interesting to see how the fans accept it, or not.