‘A lot of chaos, quickly’: panic grips US music industry as ‘kingmaker’ TikTok faces ban

Labels and artists forced to rethink marketing strategies as viral hit-making app faces possible US shutdown on Sunday

On a recent Monday morning, Olivia Shalhoup opened her laptop and steeled herself for a day of meetings. Around 40% of her work as the founder of Amethyst, a marketing and PR agency, focuses on helping musicians navigate TikTok. On this particular day, the fate of the app in the US hung in the balance, with a supreme court ruling looming, and her clients were tense. “The big thing we were talking about in every single call is: ‘What are we going to do?’” Shalhoup said. “To say that TikTok is crucial to artist campaigns right now is an understatement. No one is immune from this.”

Since its debut in 2017, TikTok has become a star-making machine, as short-form video content has eclipsed traditional forms of music promotion such as TV and radio. The app has the power to make rising artists into A-listers, propel their ascent to the top of the charts, and turn Magic FM staples like Running Up That Hill into gen alpha hits. With the help of TikTok, Lil Nas X turned the $30 beat of Old Town Road into a career-making smash, while dance challenges drove Doja Cat’s Say So and Megan Thee Stallion’s Savage to No 1 in the US. More recently, songs like Djo’s End of Beginning and Artemas’s I Like the Way You Kiss Me became global smashes after going viral on the app. The ability to track a song’s stickiness, engagement and reach is something like a label executive’s dream, offering what the author John Seabrook has called “real-time global callout data”, which in turn helps bigwigs make smart deals.

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