“Yeah, I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road. I’m gonna ride ’til I can’t no more” is the lyrics to the popular song, Old Town Road, by Lil Nas X. This artist was only 20 years old and like many passionate young artists he dreamed of getting his music out there and into the mainstream world. Thanks to TikTok a revolutionary app that was developed based on Musical.ly in 2016 Lil Nas X and many other young musicians are able to share their music with a large audience and achieve their goals. Lulu Garcia-Navarro, a host on NPR says,  “…the app has been a career-changer, especially during the pandemic. Record labels are noticing how much emerging talent is on the platform and signing up musicians based on the popularity of a single song.” 

Even well-known artists are using the platform to create a buzz about their songs before they are released. Before Drake released the song, “Toosie Slide”,  a trend called“#ToosieSlide amassed several million views…before Drake even made the track available on streaming services.” According to Vonsin Faniyi, this is becoming the norm, and “More artists are starting to use TikTok in this way — creating demand for singles before they are even out.” “Now, some corners of the music industry are trying to be more proactive, using the app as a key early testing ground for songs before they get a wide release…says Marcus Ecby”

Artists are also hoping to collaborate with some of the most well-known TikTokers like Addison Rae, Charli D’Amelio, and Chase Hudson to gain more exposure for their song. For example, “Laroi initially placed just a ‘three-or-four line’ sketch of his unfinished track, which is named after a popular TikTok star, in a video on the app. Rae embraced the teaser and shared it with her millions of followers, effectively turning Laroi’s track into a hit before it actually existed. The rapper officially released the single last month, and ‘Addison Rae’ went on to accumulate more than eight million streams across Spotify, YouTube, and SoundCloud.”

Many people including Arizona Zervas and Ava Max owe their careers largely to TikTok. “Roxanne” currently sits at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and has earned its way on Spotify’s ‘Today’s Top Hits’ and ‘Pop Rising’ playlists. The track’s success helped Zervas land a deal with Columbia Records, making him the second singer, signed by the label, whose song went viral on TikTok.” Ava Max and “Her song ‘Not Your Barbie Girl’ flew under the radar for about six months before it picked up steam on TikTok. Suddenly women were singing along to her lyrics…Several months later, her song ‘Sweet but Psycho’ exploded to an even greater degree on the app, which helped the song accrue more than 550 million streams on Spotify.”

Tiktok is an alternative to the radio which “…is not nearly as popular with younger music fans, according to data from AudienceNet, a consumer research agency. In 2018, it found that Americans ages 16-24 spent far less time listening to music on the radio than older people.” Also, it allows people to find new genres and explore new music interests which is better for the lesser-known artists on the app.“When using TikTok, I find a lot of artists and genres of music that I normally wouldn’t listen to,” Nicole Fiala, 17, of Las Vegas, told NBC News via Twitter messenger. “With Spotify, I normally listen to songs and artists that I already knew of, or music very similar to what I’m comfortable with. With TikTok, it’s more diverse.”