Social media experts have long been warning of the influence of Tiktok among young people. Although it is true that the social network has been in operation for years, it is now that it crosses borders beyond the private sphere. Artists and record companies couldn’t help but get on this train, as they have been able to take advantage of the momentum and implement the app not only as a way to promote songs but also to present albums and give concerts.
Proof of this is Rosalía, who showed the audience exclusively last week her latest work, Motomami, on this channel. Once again, the Catalan breaks the mold, not only with her lyrics — many of them a nod to youth slang (I love you, ride like my bike) — but also with this new form of show, followed by her generation audience. Z but also by veteran fans, who in some cases downloaded the application to enjoy the show.
Paul Hourican, head of UK music operations at TikTok, explains to La Vanguardia that, “although at first TikTok was mainly welcomed by users belonging to generation Z and millennials, this has changed a lot in recent years” and points out the study The Power of TikTok, prepared by Kantar, which reflected that “67% of the platform’s global users are over 25 years old. […] This data has encouraged very diverse artists to join the platform.” Singers ranging from Led Zeppellin or U2 to Raphael himself, which once again demonstrates that Tiktok has the potential to attract an intergenerational audience.
Another example is ABBA, whose songs are always among the most in demand, according to Hourican. Other music greats have also joined the bandwagon such as Alejandro Sanz, Laura Pausini, Ed Sheeran, Camila Cabello, Aitana and Jason Derulo, who caused a sensation with his Savage Love, a melody inspired precisely by a TikTok challenge.
But if there is any name that always ends up coming up, it is none other than Leo Rizzi. This 22-year-old young man launched his career on TikTok with Amapolas, a song that has more than 23 million views on YouTube. It all started with a video uploaded to the platform with his song. The melody ended up being liked so much that it went viral and record companies took notice of it. Next April 1 he will perform at LOS40 Primavera Pop.
“He will go from singing that song in front of a screen to doing it in front of more than 10,000 people,” Karin Herrero, DJ and presenter of LOS40, tells this medium, who confirms that radio stations are no strangers to what is happening on TikTok. “When a song starts playing on a radio, the antenna is very fragile. By this I mean that we cannot play any style of music but, at the same time, we cannot leave what is playing either. And sometimes it happens that songs that we would never have said become hits because they have a peculiar sound or because they do not comply with the canons of commercial music established until now. Even so, everyone sings them and most of them are because they are played on TikTok,” says Herrero, who gives as an example the song Banana by Conkarah or any of those by other artists also born, musically speaking, on the platform such as @emlan. wav, @adriicamposs or @lu.decker.
“Before, either you were on the radio or you were never going to make it in the world of music. Now, the appearance of platforms like TikTok allows artists to have many more ways to make their songs known and that always has to be seen as something positive […] This does not predict the end of music radio. It is just another complementary path,” concludes the DJ.
This is also seen by Albert Busqueons, music programmer at RAC 105, who adds that with this new trend it often happens that “themes from two or three years ago resurface that passed unnoticed but that, as a result of their viralization on TikTok, They are now playing on the radio, as is the case with Iko Iko (My Bestie), a self-released song by Justin Wellington or Heat Waves, by Glass Animals. The band released the latter two and a half years ago and it is now being rescued.” About all of this, he reflects that “before radio was the main source of content, but now we are the music programmers who are attentive to what happens on the new platforms to reproduce it later.”
Record companies and production companies are not immune to this phenomenon, as recognized by Nuria Andreu, head of communications at Sony Music, who explains that they realized that when some TikTokers, such as La Xinni or Twin Melody, reproduced or made covers of some of their songs, consumption increased, so “we ended up hiring several of them.”
He concludes that “a new era of audiovisual communication began a long time ago, which has now only become more consolidated and in which everything is shorter, more self-made and vertical, since we now think more about mobile phones and leave the computer behind.” aside. Is a reality”.
