“I probably watch TikTok an hour and a half every single day.”
Connor Smith ‘25 and many other millions of teenagers around the world spend vast swathes of time scrolling through thousands of videos every single day. This not only introduces them to the unique community on the short form content platform, but also the bizarre aspects that come with it, including the entirely unique musical trends.
TikTok, although recently under some hot water due to the temporary ban from the app store and the subsequent unbanning, is still one of the most popular social media apps in the world. In fact, according to CNN, the app recently surpassed one billion active-monthly users, about one-hundred million of which are American users.
This massive community has fostered the growth of diverse movements, social development, and especially emerging artists.
The music industry did not just develop a new way to transfer music following the development of the app but was fundamentally altered during the growth of this platform, as it entirely changed the way music is consumed. TikTok, due to being an app that uses songs as background to compliment the subject of the video, puts an emphasis on shorter beats.
TikTok has uncovered many unpopular songs, allowing many small artists to attain a large sum of fame very, very quickly. The best examples of these being people like Olivia Rodrigo and recently Chappel Roan and Doechii, both of whom went from musicians looking for their next gig, to national superstars in a very short span of time. Rodrigo, for example, had an extremely small following on social media until she started promoting her song “Driver’s License” in early 2021. This song was used in over one million videos within the year, pulling Rodrigo into the world of celebrity artists immediately. Later in 2024 artists such as Chappel Roan and Doechii saw similar success through the algorithm when their songs were promoted and took storm.
This unique algorithm provides a new medium for advertising music and building a fanbase. TikTok’s unique community provides the environment to grow a loyal fan base extremely quickly.
According to NPR, forty percent of TikTok users use a monthly music subscription, compared to only twenty-five percent of the general population. Not only do TikTokers consume more music in general, but they also are seemingly more attached to it, as seventeen percent of users buy artist merchandise monthly, nearly doubling the usual nine percent.
TikTok also changed how songs are developed, as many artists report spending the majority of their time developing the first parts of their song, so as to sound appealing on TikTok.
The music industry was already greatly shifted by the behemoth impact of the internet and social media, like YouTube, X (formerly known as Twitter), and Instagram; TikTok has simply pushed all of these changes to the max, bringing a foreign, unique aspect to the table.
TikTok will likely continue to mold the musical intake of the world for years to come, leaving many to wonder, how will the world adapt?