By Becca Healy

After witnessing a sold-out show of a Tik Tok star, Becca investigates the role of Tik Tok in connecting music to new audiences.

Photo of Ellur by Sarah Oglesby

Back in May I sold merchandise at a venue in Leeds. I was tired and eager for a short and sweet shift, perhaps culminating in an early finish. I had no idea who the artist was that I was selling merchandise for, but this is not uncommon.

I walked into work and set up the stock. As 7pm hit and doors opened, gig-goers flooded in. Rather antithetically to a usual crowd of Radio 6 Dads and unassuming Headrow House hipsters, the average age seemed to be around 12-14. T-shirts and hoodies started to fly out, as Mums and their daughters, young girls and their friends tapped their cards. I was rather busy.

The support act started and my colleague commented on how the gig was at capacity. However, it looked as if only the first few rows were full. I was puzzled and then realised the metric for venue capacity is an adult… When the headline act Zach Templar took to the stage, audible screeches echoed around the empty-ish room.

After the gig, Zach dashed over to the stand where I had sold out his memorabilia. The girls swarmed to the table and fought for Zach’s attention and sharpie signature. As a regular gig-goer, I’d never seen such a fan-flurry in a small venue like Headrow House. I’ve always been committed to increasing audiences to live music and wanted to know what Zach’s secret was: Tik Tok.

His manager, Giles, who happened to also be Zach’s Dad said he had blown up out of nowhere on the site. He’d taken Zach out of school and quit his job. They’d turned down record label offers because they thought they didn’t need them. Tik Tok and Giles’ former business expertise was enough to book venues for a mostly sold-out UK tour.

I was scratching my head at this. I went home and searched him up. He had 4 million views on one of his tik toks. Today, his top track on Spotify has almost 100 million listens. This is the first time I’d seen the true impact of Tik Tok on the music-industry right in front of my very eyes.

But what about artists that don’t start on Tik Tok? I spoke to Ellur, an up-and-coming indie artist from Yorkshire who has grown her audience through Tik Tok. Once, labels would have spent money gaining data to establish an audience. Now, post-Tik Tok, the algorithm does it for free.

She shared how she worked with a Tik Tok manager who encouraged her to upload videos three times a day. She emphasised how much work goes into these clips. Sometimes, she undergoes 10 takes to get a video she’s happy with. Despite her privileged position this can feel like emotional labour.

Every move on Tik Tok is made to feed the algorithm. There is no time for a break. The invisible algorithm rewards users for increased usage. Ellur said she felt she was punished by the algorithm for going on holiday, but she wasn’t sure. It’s all “rumours and whispers”, she told me.

Is it possible to for audiences to discover new music outside of Tik Tok? Yes. I spoke to a music radio DJ who said they never look at it. The up-and-coming band Bug Teeth have never even made one Tik Tok. Another successful band I spoke to relayed how they have consistently ignored requests from their major label to start making Tik Toks.

As a music fan, I will always seek out new music. But for those who are not necessarily seeking it out, Tik Tok is a great vehicle for that discovery. Prioritising short, catchy and relatable lyrics, is something the music industry has always done. Tik Tok is a perfect vehicle for this. The full impact that it has on music currently still remains to be seen, but there are glimmers of it. When reading the line-up for the indie all-dayer Live at Leeds, my friend pointed out a few artists she knew from Tik Tok. Potentially this is more symptomatic of the current music industry, where avenues for publicity are so limited. This year started with the announcement of music criticism leaders’ ‘Pitchfork’ folding into GQ magazine.

The fact that it is free and has such audience growth potential means there will be many more Zach Templars and indie artists without alternative publicity routes using it to gain a following. Will it condense the art of alternative artists’ into the Zach model of short songs with highly relatable lyrics?

Ellur said Tik Tok’s influence had fed into her songwriting and this led to a brief period where she began to criticise herself on this basis. Emphasising its briefness, she said it has not affected her writing long-term. To counter the negative influences of Tik Tok on songwriting, there is also a rawness and honesty that comes from female artists that have found their voice by sharing videos on Tik Tok. This feels to her, like a departure from the male domination of this kind of expression in indie music. Whether this is generally a wider trend of confessional lyrics by female artists and Tik Tok capitalises on this, is a whole other article. But perhaps the audience model gives non-male artists the confidence and access to their community to make these steps to build an audience.

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