The path to music stardom a couple of years ago was very straight forward, get signed, get radio play, land a cosign, shoot a video but the key was “you had to know someone” who probably knew someone and hoped it took off. A lot of stress, a lot of budgets and a lot of stress. Now it’s different because a 1 minute TikTok clip can change an artist’s entire life.
TikTok came into a market that was heavily people dependent and made a channel from unknown to blockbuster material with ease. It brought a system that prioritized the quality of the music and window to the world for artists who otherwise would never have thought it possible. This is the story of how TikTok changed the world, at least the world of music.
The Algorithm becomes an A&R
TikTok’s coming of age coincided with Covid-19’s peak in 2020, they had to topple other short video apps like Triller but what did they bring that made them stand out ? The algorithm of the For you page. The algorithm of Tiktok’s For You page is ruthless and instead of focusing on established acts, it helps propel underground and unknown acts, because of a dependence on pushing good, consistent content, trends and memes.
The emergence of TikTok meant a teen in a small home in Ohio without a manager, A&R, PR team or even a finished song could reach multiple people even without consistency. The algorithm doesn’t care about your personality, just how well your sound travels.
Snippets: The new pipeline to fame
One major pro of TikTok that wasn’t so mainstream before the app is the freedom to test new sounds on audiences without having to release them. The TikTok era has propelled the snippet culture from a tool to release songs on Instagram to a testing and pre release strategy. This has given the rise to multiple acts like Ice spice (Munch) a snippet which launched her entire career, Pain by Pinkpantheress is another good example of the snippet to hit song pipeline that TikTok offers, Old Town Road propelled Lil Nas X to stardom as well.
Best ways to make it on TikTok?
There’s no one route to fame on TikTok and it is not limited to unknown acts, a lot of established acts have used TikTok for promotion to create smash hits from viral contents, memes, dances etc. Doja Cat had a career shift after Say So took off on TikTok, Savage by Megan Thee Stallion took off from TikTok as well which led to a Beyonce verse and Grammy nomination.
TikTok isn’t just for the now, it has helped propelling just as many songs from the past like Lord Huron’s The Night we Met (2015), Arctic Monkey’s I Wanna be Yours (2013), Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Murder on the Dancefloor (2002) and Meghan Trainor’s No (2017.). Whether your granddad created a perfect sound in the 80’s or you just created one in 2025, Tiktok has the perfect trampoline to elevate any music to the right audience and even beyond.
Image Credit: cottonbro studio
