TikTok proving to be major music discovery platform

The research is one of three studies commissioned by the Chinese-owned platform in November to explore the impact of its app on music and culture.

The survey found that 63% of respondents discovered new music on the app that they had never heard before. About 67% said they were more likely to look for songs on streaming platforms after hearing them on TikTok, and the same number of respondents said they would like to see videos from brands featuring trending songs on the platform. Approximately 72% of TikTok users link certain songs specifically to the app.

TikTok global head of music Ole Obermann told MBW that TikTok’s vision was for artists to “find their voice and find that first community on TikTok, and then they become famous enough where they are able to get a record deal or perhaps even a publishing deal off the back of that.” He said the MRC Data research reinforced TikTok’s position at the forefront of providing opportunities to creators and artists alike.

TikTok recently announced that it had more than 732 million monthly active users globally at the end of October 2020. The app now has more than double the number of active users around the world compared to music streaming service Spotify.

The second report, which was researched by the Flamingo firm, says that “TikTokers like brands better when they create or participate in a trend on TikTok … [they] feel more connected to brands when they comment on people’s posts”. Aggressive music consumption on TikTok by brands has raised questions about its legal implications. For instance, Sony Music is suing fitness brand Gymshark for infringing 297 recordings in its ads.

The third study was conducted by journalists from The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) who explored how the app’s algorithms determine users’ unexpressed interests – starting with a wide variety of popular videos and narrowing down to personal activity, with the algorithms figuring out a user’s interests in less than 40 minutes. “While TikTok can draw out what makes you laugh, it can also make you wallow in your darkest thought,” the report concludes. Watch the WSJ report here.

In May, TikTok surpassed YouTube in the US and UK for average time spent per user, per month on Android, according to a report by analytics firm App Annie.

YouTube is still the world’s largest video streaming platform, with more than 2 billion logged-in users playing music on its service every month. However, TikTok recently became the first mobile app apart from Facebook to reach 3 billion downloads globally.