Regardless of what you watch on TikTok, I think we can all agree with one thing— its trendy songs are everywhere. In this day and age, the app pumps out instant hits that follow the radio and media for months. Although this change has changed the music industry, is it also affecting your current listening habits?
The way we listen to music has changed drastically throughout the years. Although some still resort to physical music copies to hear their favorite songs, society has mostly transitioned to streaming. With these services, we have access to almost every song at our fingertips– but what happens when a trending song isn’t on these platforms?
With TikTok, songs that are popularized are often pitched, remixed, or even unreleased. When licensing issues occur, it is second nature to run a different, free service like YouTube or SoundCloud to stream there. The only problem is that artists often are not paid well, or at all, through these sites.
Physical media gives artists a large portion of profits made through sales. When buying vinyl or CDs, your favorite singer gets a lot more money than they would from you streaming the album repeatedly. Through apps that reupload music, small and independent artists reap hardly any benefits.
Artists also remark on the internet’s impact on the music industry. Charli XCX and Halsey have both shared that their management pressured them to change their career paths for TikTok by constantly posting and changing their lyrics. By having lyrics that are easy to post about, labels have found a new way to ensure their artists gain fame. There are even TikTok radios that play these songs for those that tune in.
The radio used to be a great way to find new songs. Now, music marketing uses social media to push the same ones that have been circulating for weeks. Ironically enough, finding new music seems harder than ever! With the popularization of song restyling, methods of listening are changing drastically— and song production is different as well.
A commonly known effect of social media is its diminishing of attention spans. This unfortunate impact is displayed through the popularity of sped-up versions of songs. Artists like Panic! At The Disco, Steve Lacy, and SZA released these high-pitched versions after they were popularized on TikTok. Although a similar trend, “Nightcore,” was common in the past, this new resurgence can solely be blamed on their trending in social media videos.
The app has also been used to introduce new artists on songs. The “duet” feature is often used to add verses and harmonies, and if these versions go viral, they may even outperform the original song! A new hit, “Boy’s A Liar Pt 2,” has garnered lots of online attention and given its respective artists, Pink Pantheress and Ice Spice, their first Billboard-charting song. Due to her new virality, Ice Spice is now rising faster than ever on the daily Spotify charts.
Users on social media also love to share their habits. Statistic-sharing sites like Last.Fm, Spotify Wrapped, and Recieptify have spread like wildfire. When I looked at Wrapped for this past year, I noticed that a lot of people’s top songs were popular online. Whether it was a trend before or after they found it, most hit songs make their way on TikTok at some point. After hearing songs repeatedly in videos, it gets hard to avoid them and easier to hear them— in turn, causing us to love and loop them.
In short, social media is a great way to find rising artists and listen to many different versions of songs. Unfortunately, this additionally results in a lack of creativity for new music as well as a detriment to singers and their careers.
While we listen to music, we should stay conscious of its effect on the modern industry and art as we know it. If TikTok is changing the way to listen to music, you are not alone— this trend is continuously increasing and will not fall any time soon.