When Gen Z met TikTok, a convergence took place that leaders in the music industry were not expecting. These digital natives rejected the social media platforms of their predecessors and found their voice through their go-to app. Through a multitude of user-generated content (UGC), more independent artists broke into the industry by going viral on TikTok. As more and more hit songs create their origin story by making viral hits on the app, music industry leaders have no choice but to adapt to how Gen Z gets their music.
Gen Z Finds Its Platform
Since the rise of social media, Gen Z has a way of understanding how to harness its power that differs from older generations. According to Forbes, millennials tend to prefer consuming content on platforms like Facebook and Instagram so they can scroll through a digital feed. For Gen Z, Snapchat was a refreshing platform that allowed users to be the ones who were creating short-format content. When TikTok came along, it offered its users a creative community that people fully embraced.
As a social media platform that often features music and viral dances, TikTok has also become a way for the generation born between 1995 and 2012 to have a say in what musical artists reach higher levels of success. The app allows artists, producers, and influencers an avenue to set the terms of engagement with fans. In some cases, going viral on the platform has led many artists to record deals within the music industry.
Award-Winning Influence
The point of TikTok is for users to lean into creating a wide variety of content and share that with a worldwide audience. For musicians, a song can be performed live by the artist or reinterpreted by one of the various creators on the app. User-generated content can include lip-sync routines, dances, soundtracks, duets, and more.
Recording Academy reported that TikTok can launch artists from obscurity into the spotlight. The platform’s algorithm identifies other videos that use a specific song. Users generate challenges and dances, which uplift a song until it reaches the viral stage. This can lead to industry recognition, including Grammy Award nominations.
Upcycling A Song
Although Gen Z has a reputation for canceling things popular with the generations that came before them, they also tend to revive songs that were popular decades ago. MoneyTalksNews reported those born between 1995 and 2012 have killed off things like side parts, drinking, getting a four-year degree, Facebook, and more.
NPR gathered data from TikTok trends and found them responsible for reviving older songs for Gen Z use. The article explores how the 1996 Celine Dion song “It’s All Coming Back To Me Now” set a one-day streaming record in 2022 on Spotify and YouTube. TikTok users began to lip-sync to the song’s crescendo, which became a trending topic on the site, prompting them to play the full song on other musical platforms. Those who watched the seven-minute, 39-second video on YouTube didn’t seem to have a problem with the side part that Dion rocked in the video!
Final Thoughts
Viral videos have changed the game for artists trying to break into the music industry. For example, the intro to “Lalala” catapulted Y2K and bbno$’s song into the digital world of TikTok. Today, bbno$ makes multiple reels about how he is more than just the “Lalala” guy. It is interesting to see the music industry, which has long been seen as unchangeable, adjust to the new normal. As Fat Mike of NOFX said in his song of the same title, a song which addressed the music industry, “Dinosaurs Will Die.”
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