What Has TikTok Done To The Music Industry? Charli XCX, FKA Twigs And Others Share How Many Times Their Labels Make Them Post
Notable pop musicians like Charli XCX, FKA Twigs and even Ed Sheeran have recently unveiled what their record labels want from them on TikTok — and that's to post as many times as possible in an attempt to go viral despite valid inspiration.
Yesterday, a tweet posted by Twitter user @alluregaga2 included multiple TikTok screenshots from female pop artists revealing that their individual record labels expect them to be posting multiple times a day. The self-aware nature of these TikToks' subject matter alluded to many on Twitter that these women are struggling to keep up with the consistency and creativity being demanded.
Undoubtedly, TikTok can make or break an artist's success as a form of viral marketing. Over the course of the platform's history, many artists have gotten their start on TikTok due to their songs being a part of a trend. For instance, the artist JELEEL! has grown a fanbase predominantly from his TikTok content where he only uses one song for most of his videos and started a trend with it of ripping his shirt that others replicated.
Other trends and memes on TikTok have made already established artists more money. A good example is the Mardi Gras Guy who danced to Kevin Gates' song "Thinking With My Dick." At the start of the year, Gates' most streamed song on Spotify was "2 Phones" but after the TikTok trend, "Thinking With My Dick" soared to the top. All the attention even prompted Gates to invite the suburban Dad on stage at a concert.
@jeleelyeah Reply to @..demus yes it is #realrawenergy ♬ DIVE IN! – JELEEL!
@barstoolsports IM JUST THINKIN WITH MY @Million Dollaz ♬ original sound – Barstool Sports
The screenshots shared in @alluregaga2's tweet are all real despite some of the original videos, like FKA Twigs', having since been deleted. News outlets like Yahoo! have reported on the pressure from record labels like Atlantic Records, but no statement has come from any labels in regard to it.
@edsheeran Tag someone that likes snacks
@charlixcx Stream good ones tho !
@maemuller_ i’m scared your honour #help ♬ Follow me I dare you – Josh Pike / Pamela
@florence The label are begging me for ‘low fi tik toks’ so here you go. pls send help ☠️ x
Additionally, @alluregaga2's tweet generated lots of discourse on the topic going into the days following. Many blamed the labels for being "lazy" in their promotional tactics. Some even stated that TikTok wasn't the factor hurting the music industry, but rather, the music industry was hurting TikTok, meaning that their growing lack of promotional creativity was showing in this growing trend of self-aware content from their artists.
it’s not just about promo i actually hate it more when you can tell when artists are forced to make “tiktok friendly songs” labels rely too much on this app hoping for it to do wonders rather than do actual promos… ig it’s okay if artists wanna do it and if it’s organic
— allure (@alluregaga2) May 22, 2022
Labels are to lazy to promote nowadays so they want tik tok to magically do their work. What they don’t understand is that most tik tok songs that go viral are vintage songs that get revisited by gen z or songs by underground artists. Everyone hates forced promo
— nowhere (@diornowhere) May 22, 2022
No but why are they all suddenly being so candid? these fake sob stories are the real promo lmao
— je suis batman (@creepyhorseton) May 22, 2022
Isn’t it the labels job to promote? pic.twitter.com/je9FN2Pufn
— dion maurizio (@godess_venusss) May 23, 2022
i know she hates dogs fr pic.twitter.com/P2fNRje2C4
— ً (@puremoodsss) May 22, 2022
It's not tiktok that's destroying the music industry. Record executives are destroying art and making artists' lives more difficult for the sake of viral marketing. Blame the suits.
— Matt would like a non-binary flag emoji pls (@pop_primer) May 23, 2022
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