The music industry has changed over the years, and in each decade it has suffered influences from different platforms and types of media. Some of these changes were beneficial for the industry and its artists, but some had its issues.
In early 2021, Olivia Rodrigo, one of the biggest names in the music scenario today, released her debut single “driver’s license” along with her first solo album SOUR. “driver’s license” became a huge success, and part of it was because of TikTok and its current power over the music industry.
Before TikTok came along, however, songs became famous because not only the song itself had a high demand, but also because their respective albums were purchased by a big portion of the public. Nowadays, tracks are not famous based on their sales numbers; what ends up truly counting are the streams, and the video platform has been helping increase these numbers more rapidly.
Streams are more valuable than sales nowadays, but, with TikTok, some other aspects of the music industry have also changed. With the concept of videos on the platform in mind, the songs are not listened to entirely – when they go viral, only a small part of the song is listened to, usually 15 to 60 seconds of it.
When this effect started to take place, the artists and their labels realized how much impact TikTok had in their public preference for digital content, and so they began to change their writing styles, focusing even more on the chorus and bridge, preferring relatable and sticky lyrics and a generic rhythm.
The “Olivia Rodrigo” Effect
Olivia has been the face of this effect and movement on TikTok, probably because she was one of the first singers to go viral with pop punk tracks like “brutal” and “good 4 u”, songs that contain angsty lyrics and addicting choruses and bridges.
The singer made huge marks on the music industry overnight: Her songs made people curious over the drama behind it, and a good part of her huge success can be because of this interest. Her tracks carry a big emotional impact, telling stories that most of her public can relate to.
After her, songs like “abcdefu” by gayle and others that has the pop punk beat and female rage aspect to it had their moment going viral on TikTok. Even though for a lot of people the songs that are part of the “Olivia Rodrigo effect” means that they are “bad songs”, Olivia continues to be one of the most important and loved artists in today’s music scenario, with her ability to write deep and thoughtful lyrics has gained our hearts over and over again.
Maybe the songs that are part of this effect do look very similar one to another, but that’s really what happens when a singer finds a “formula” to songs that a big audience relates and listens to. Songs are for entertainment and most times they can be a part of someone’s relaxation time, so if these songs are what makes the public happy, then they’re doing their part! So, really, there’s no good or bad songs, there’s different tastes to everything, including music.
And most songs that go viral on the app end up going to the top of the most important charts. In a study conducted for TikTok, it was calculated that 67% of the app’s users are more likely to seek out songs on music-streaming services after hearing them on TikTok, and that’s the reason why they often end up charting on Billboard 100 or Spotify Viral 50.
So, in retrospect, it can be said that TikTok has been influencing their users to listen to a certain musical genre by encouraging their public to post videos with sounds that are trending.
The article above was edited by Alice Nakao.
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