Success stories such as Lil Nas X, whose “Old Town Road” became effectively the biggest-selling United States single of all time after going viral on TikTok, have demonstrated the power of the short-form video app.
Sometimes, it’s old songs given a new lease of life, such as recent crazes for Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” or Boney M’s “Rasputin.” “Major labels are kinda crapping their pants because the traditional systems of marketing no longer apply. is a great leveler. You can do it on your own,” he said.That was the case with Nigerian popstar CKay. His 2019 single “Love Nwantiti” was a decent-sized hit in his home country, but then TikTok users got hold of it, and by November 2021 it had surpassed 15 billion streams and topped charts from Asia to Europe to North America.On music, TikTok is already thinking about next steps.
“But we have about one million small and medium businesses who want to make TikTok ads using music. And it’s an absolute nightmare because our licenses don’t include commercial usage.”