The Pudding and Vox have posted a video that explores what happens after TikTok songs go viral.

They say:

“It’s no secret that TikTok is a virality machine. Songs get turned into sounds that can be used in any video, and if they gain enough traction they can catapult a musician into the pop culture stratosphere. But we wanted to know exactly what happens between a song going viral and an artist becoming a bonafide success. So in the fall of 2021, we partnered with data analysis website The Pudding figure it out…. We were able to follow the numbers to track what happens to artists after they go viral — and how the music industry has shapeshifted around TikTok. It turns out the app is completely revolutionizing the way record labels work, and giving artists more leverage than ever.”

Key takeaways:

• 125 artists got their big break and went viral on TikTok in 2020. (4:58)
• When 15 seconds of a song goes viral on TikTok, people flood to Spotify to stream the full song. (6:14)
• Record labels monitor TikTok like hawks and aggressively try to sign new viral artists. (9:36)
• 46% of those 125 artists went from unsigned to landing a major record label deal. (14:12)
• Musician L.Dre says, “The fact of the matter is, if you wanna make it today, you either have to have money to hire people, or you just need to also become a video editor. Also become a graphic designer. You definitely have to wear a lot of hats for sure.” (18:37)
• Among the artists who had never toured before or played a show about a third of them have had at least one live show and about 15% of them are actually playing festivals now. (20:45)

My take: I know there’s a lot of hate for TikTok but I love that it grants some creative folks their “15 minutes of fame.” The fact is that there is an overwhelming amount of digital content being created every day — too much for any one person to sift through. The kids on TikTok are choosing the riffs they like, turning them viral. Their creators then get recognized on Spotify — and compensated. Once upon a time “Video Killed the Radio Star,” but now TikTok has killed the video star and, in today’s attention economy, the crowd has truly become the curator.