Yes. And the ones getting used constantly in dances and dance challenges are usually paying the influencers to create those dances....see Tyla, Beyonce etc. People are acting as if these are all spontaneous. Tik Tok marketing is an important part of a major label artist strategy these days. One has to ask if they really think it's plausible that you can go from being a random on TT to ending up on mainstream radio. Those of us who know how radio play works know that's impossible. That's not to say that TT is unnecessary but it definitely won't make someone a star if you're really already on that track (i.e. signed or have major marketing money).
As someone who’s freelanced for major labels to coordinate these efforts you’re 100% right. 99.9% of these TikTok blow ups isn’t real.
It’s the 2020’s version of the late 00/early 10’s “grassroots blow up” of being featured on every single blog out of nowhere. I was there for that one too.
The people still have to like the music otherwise it’ll be an L for the label/financier, but the resources & financial aspect of this is still play a major part.
That's a good point, often it is a game that can only be played by the privileged who either know somebody or were able to be noticed by someone with influence. So my question is, are there any ways we as artist can put ourselves into that position? the thing that sucks about all of this, and I apologize for getting political here, but our capitalist society is built on the idea that if there are winners there has to be losers which with art just sucks.
I don't disagree with you, I think all we can do is use the tools available to us. I do know of bands who have turned TikTok and other social media into success. That's not all they did, and they're not the biggest bands in the world but they get to play music for a living which at least for me is the goal.
As far as the politics go, yeah it sucks we don't live in a world that puts us on a level playing field. While "losing" as you put it, sets you up for a lower quality of life. Though I don't really know what the solution for that is, so I just try to stay politically active and hope it's better for the next generations. Right now I just try to focus on what I control, though that's harder than it sounds.
I absolutely agree. I'm young and its only natural for me to complain about the world, I often dont notice when im doing it but you are right, its not something that I can control. I think that everyones goals in making music are similar but different, I think we all want people to hear us, I think some of us care more about being heard and some care more about being able to financially support themself. I think its some combination of both of those things in nearly every case, for me personally, my goal is leaning towards the being heard part of the spectrum. I would like to be in taylor swifts position even if im broke while doing it, and thats why this matters to me and I think of it in the way I do. I use the language of losing because it would feel like losing to me, but thats not necessarily true for others.
Ain't nothing but a pyramid model of social organisation. Implies the few at the top deserve their rare success ...meritocracy...but we know fr this is a lie.
What other pyramid models exist....oh ya...MLM.
Society is just one big MLM scam.
I kinda agree with you tbh. I’ve pivoted to making content telling stories from my life or just little goofy skits and behind the scenes from music videos. But I’m very spotty with posting. Personally, I’ve just been posting a few things after a release that is strictly music related. Then using promote to boost it and I’ve gained a lot of followers that way. But once they follow, they have more content of me just being goofy mixed with some music. So my point is, no necessary to post daily or a million times a week. Just do what feels right and natural. You want your content to be intentional but also just you being you. People fall in love with your music then they’re gonna want to fall in love with you as a person and vice versa.
Yeah, theres been a lot of artist who have made names for themselves on Tiktok, but are yet to be succesful in the eyes of the larger industry. I am interested in how that bridge can be crossed, i wonder if giving TikTok the weight we usually do helps or hurts us in that mission.
what is a "major, long-lasting sensation," though? Like Taylor Swift? Because that's a pretty high bar. One band I like, Mother Mother, certainly got a gigantic bump from one of their songs randomly getting big on Tik-Tok and it resuscitated their career.
Mother Mother is a good example of Social Media being a tool and not the whole package. They've been building up for a while, they were actually on college radio in Canada for a little bit before they popped off. Also I'm seeing them this Saturday which is pretty cool.
Yeah, they had already been legit band on a label before the virality occurred. Cavetown seems to have also gotten huge(er?) returns from social media. Enjoy the show!
Cavetown already had a pretty big YouTube following though, and he got big on TikTok mostly because his songs were used as trends. He seems to be falling in popularity though sadly (also he's out of his major record deal, worth mentioning, though it might be a personal decision)
When I saw a cavetown and mother mother a few weeks ago, they had a pretty good turnout and I'm pretty sure a strong majority of the people were there for cavetown. The people were really into their stuff, singing along and all that. I think mother mother got big because of one of their songs hitting on tiktok too, for what it's worth.
Yeah I should have nuanced that. I'm just saying that I cannot name artists who have seen lasting success (like more than one hit) from posting on TikTok like the OP is saying.
Songs going viral off of trends without the artist doing anything for that is pretty different imo.
Taylor Swift is a pretty high bar, but I guess where I'm coming from is speaking grey area in between having a few thousand monthly listeners on spotify and getting to taylor swifts position.
two different platforms. Tik Tok is way too fast and ephemeral to generate these kind of artists. On Youtube back in the day you just needed to be a great musician, on Tik Tok nowadays you need to be somewhat decent at music plus you have to be sick at content creation. I don't mean any hate, but people like Connor Price are pretty average rappers in the grand scheme of things but he specifically is a killer content creator. I watch his videos even if I'm not a fan of his music because they're just amazingly crafted. I think that "music youtubers", for a lack of better terms, back in the day were very different from Tik Tokers nowadays because most (not all, but most) Tiktokers are way better at content creation than they are at songwriting/producing.
Well, I am not an authority at all, I have less then 100 monthly listeners on spotify, so I am not in the position to really be giving advice. I think my strategy is to post consistently until a base of listeners gets somewhat built, then once a ball gets rolling I think id probably stop posting so frequently and start focusing on letting the music speak for itself, not necessarily wipe myself off of socials, but begin posting only when I have something of value to give, coming from a place of "i have something to share" not "I need to remind everyone that I exist"
EDIT: i have more to share here, I think TikTok is a tool in the artist marketing arsenal, but the vibe I am getting is that it is the means to success, which I don't think is actually true.
It seems to me that the real path to success is actually the old school way mixed with some digital marketing. I.e. play live, show your face, meet your audience in person, collect emails and phone numbers, speak to them directly as much as you can, do street level stuff, sell merch, go to events and introduce yourself... Record it all, post it on your socials. I mean, you could even get your own street team like people did back in the day.
There’s a band from Atlanta called Silly Goose that would roll up on a flatbed outside of shows and play guerilla-style til the cops showed up. Pretty sweet idea I would have loved to copy
Edit: they do still make TikTok’s and do live streams and stuff. But I found out about them in the parking lot of an arena show, so that felt a lot cooler than being fed by the algorithms
There is a difference between your music being the soundtrack of some idiotic TikTok meme vs your music becoming important to someone and moving them to the point of actually becoming a real fan.
its not effective. it ends up being costly to you as a creator when you’re dividing your attention between music creation and content creation.
i know a buddy of mine has a rule to post one tiktok per day to see how he can grow. he’s been going strong virtually every day since last summer, and he is constantly getting 250 views here and there.
people have this very misguided and misinformed notion about social media for music. it’s helpful on occasion, but it certainly doesn’t warrant the amount of time it seems to take.
In general, I'm not against any artist who consistently posts on TikTok or Reels, as that's just more chances to have something take off. In a vacuum, I agree that it's more effective for getting attention and followers, but what you really want are actual fans who would be willing to stream your music, tell their friends about you, go to your shows and buy merch.
The way I see it, if you have a goal as an artist, whether it's to make a full-time living off music and leave that shitty day job and/or impact the masses with your music, keep on posting those videos and don't worry about what people think or what others label you as.
However, it's important to understand that there's more to marketing than just posting on Reels, TikTok, etc. if you're trying to build deeper fan relationships (real fans). It's great and important for building awareness (top of the funnel) but you also have to think about the fan journey and how you can get fans to develop a deeper emotional relationship with you as an artist. Of course, this can still happen through short-form videos but what's the next step for fans after they follow you on a social platform?
An artist should have a marketing infrastructure that takes potential fans down a journey to become fans. Are they creating other type of content meant to engage actual fans (like BTS)? Do these "TikTok" artists even have music on DSPs? Is there a website for fans to buy merch from or sign up for an email list? Are they actually doing shows so you can track them on Bandsintown?
I know the perception of the "TikTok" artist isn't great, but I don't see anything wrong if it helps you to reach your goal and you're staying true to your brand, not selling out your soul and artistic vision. Constantly posting TikToks can be a good part of your overall marketing strategy, but there's a lot more that goes into it to earn "real" fans.
As someone who's really just started out with a new project, it feels like I can't not do it. I probably don't need to be doing it constantly but I need to do something. Fact is I'm just one guy and the effort involved in learning all the editing software, algorithms, content styles etc is starting to dwarf the music creation process. I released an EP Friday just gone and that's what all my music related time has gone into and it's exhausting. Not just tiktok, thankfully I can reupload the videos to a bunch of different platforms, but I have to do what I must to get my new unknown band into the ears of people I don't know.
Yeah, I feel you, I make content for socials too, I think I'm really talking about the constant barfing of content multiple times a day, I dont think its actually as effective as people imply, theres another comment I made that is talking about my strategy personally if you care.
That's the thing, I've been recommended to barf content and I just don't have the time and patience and definitely not the feel for it (I'm in my 30's, tiktok just isn't in my blood.)
Yeah, while I'm not at all an authority on the matter. my method is that I want to come at it with the intention of "i want to share something I think is of value" instead of "I want to tell people that I exist". I hope that mindset works for me. I think its really is all about luck, and you just have to create opportunities for luck to come, you wont go viral if you dont release your music or post something, thats why you should do it, I just think the whole firehose style of blasting content out nonstop is trying to control the uncontrollable and can be a distraction, and for me it feels like im cheapening my art and I feel that way when I see artist do it as well, but thats just my unjustified opinion.
Some food for thought…
During your growth phase, you’re going to lose fans far faster than when you’re an established act.
Meaning that you thinking someone is “desperate” for posting 3-5x per day leads to an unfollow from you but picks up 7-10 new followers in exchange.
Secondly, if you’re not bringing in money, then it shouldn’t matter how many “fans” you lose from posting on TikTok.
Finally, for those that are mentioning that it takes away from your creative process: how many songs did you release last year? How many TikToks?
If you’re not shipping a song every other week, you have plenty of time to create content.
(And if you’re shipping a song every other week, you have plenty of opportunities for content)
every fan is just a listener first. i agree with the sentiment of what you’re saying and obviously having industry backing is gonna increase the chance of a song blowing up. My personal tiktok strategy has been to not bet on the exception. not bet on going viral. instead, just post steady content and view it ultimately as a traffic source. i don’t even care about growing my accounts, just converting some of that free traffic into listeners. it’s been somewhat effective for me.
I think there's three important things to think about here:
1. There will always be examples that don't follow the trend. There will always be artists who seem to have come from absolutely nowhere and have blown up without doing all this work that we are told to do
2. There are more ways to gain fans and followers than just posting regularly on social media
3. None of these methods are guaranteed to work, no matter how much effort you put in and/or how good your music is
I don't know how Tommy Richman (actually I just don't know Tommy Richman) blew up. Maybe he had some contacts in the industry who were able to get his music in front of the right people. Maybe he just got lucky and posted the right thing at the right time and it blew up organically (unlikely).
When it comes to this advice about posting regularly with social media, the point really is that you can't gain fans if you're invisible, so you need to make efforts to be visible. That might be with social media, or it might be through playing concerts, or it might be through having a good PR company/radio plugger/list of contacts who can help you gain some visibility. For most people, social media is the one avenue that we have easy access to, and that gives us the widest reach in terms of potential audience. It's not that you have to be doing lots of TikTok posts, it's not about TikTok or Instagram or whatever else, it's about visibility. If you get better results from playing live than you do from social media, focus on that.
And yes, I get you. Sometimes you see artists making content regularly and doing so in a way that it's obviously marketing. As an artist myself I sympathise with them, but I also don't find it so engaging. It's clear to me that they are making that content for new fans, not for me, and so it actually reduces the engagement from regular fans in order to focus on new fans. Personally I think the best way to use social media is to post content that appeals to your fans - new or old. The old fans like the content I post because they are familiar with me and they like who I am and they want to connect with that, the new fans come across these posts and maybe recognise a bit of a community vibe, or they get to see this more personal version of me that they resonate with. I might still make more promo style posts every now and then, but in between I'm making sure that my social media (maybe more through stories for example) is just genuine, personal, and relatable to people who know me.
That’s cause MDB had a big ads budget on tiktok, if u notice there’s certain videos which don’t have good like to view ratio enough to have the amount of views they have, that’s cause every video was then pushed as a add to have as many people as possible view the video without depending on the algorithm. Same thing they did with 4batz. He only posts TikTok’s that he can scale. Plus 9/10 times u see a TikTok song getting big with influencers dancing etc… it’s because fuel was poured on the influencer marketing space as well
I think it depends on what you’re doing in the content. Every scene, genre, era etc has artists that used all the tools available in their time to gain exposure and some of them did it in a way that was timeless and impactful and some became a laughing stock or laughably dated. For every Guns N Roses, there’s a Ratt or a Winger.
If you’re on tik tok smashing pies in people faces, you’ll probably get a lot of listens and be remembered as the guy who smashed pies in peoples faces. If you’re on tik tok playing acoustic versions, explaining lyrics or writing process or giving an inside look into your life, people will probably take you more seriously as a musician in the long run
I think it's all nonsense tbh. The songs that get used over and over have major finance support.
Yes. And the ones getting used constantly in dances and dance challenges are usually paying the influencers to create those dances....see Tyla, Beyonce etc. People are acting as if these are all spontaneous. Tik Tok marketing is an important part of a major label artist strategy these days. One has to ask if they really think it's plausible that you can go from being a random on TT to ending up on mainstream radio. Those of us who know how radio play works know that's impossible. That's not to say that TT is unnecessary but it definitely won't make someone a star if you're really already on that track (i.e. signed or have major marketing money).
As someone who’s freelanced for major labels to coordinate these efforts you’re 100% right. 99.9% of these TikTok blow ups isn’t real. It’s the 2020’s version of the late 00/early 10’s “grassroots blow up” of being featured on every single blog out of nowhere. I was there for that one too. The people still have to like the music otherwise it’ll be an L for the label/financier, but the resources & financial aspect of this is still play a major part.
That's a good point, often it is a game that can only be played by the privileged who either know somebody or were able to be noticed by someone with influence. So my question is, are there any ways we as artist can put ourselves into that position? the thing that sucks about all of this, and I apologize for getting political here, but our capitalist society is built on the idea that if there are winners there has to be losers which with art just sucks.
I don't disagree with you, I think all we can do is use the tools available to us. I do know of bands who have turned TikTok and other social media into success. That's not all they did, and they're not the biggest bands in the world but they get to play music for a living which at least for me is the goal. As far as the politics go, yeah it sucks we don't live in a world that puts us on a level playing field. While "losing" as you put it, sets you up for a lower quality of life. Though I don't really know what the solution for that is, so I just try to stay politically active and hope it's better for the next generations. Right now I just try to focus on what I control, though that's harder than it sounds.
I absolutely agree. I'm young and its only natural for me to complain about the world, I often dont notice when im doing it but you are right, its not something that I can control. I think that everyones goals in making music are similar but different, I think we all want people to hear us, I think some of us care more about being heard and some care more about being able to financially support themself. I think its some combination of both of those things in nearly every case, for me personally, my goal is leaning towards the being heard part of the spectrum. I would like to be in taylor swifts position even if im broke while doing it, and thats why this matters to me and I think of it in the way I do. I use the language of losing because it would feel like losing to me, but thats not necessarily true for others.
As someone who's a little older, the complaining doesn't stop lol
It NEVER stops. I'm older still I bet u really money on it...and wished complaining could turn to real effective action but I live in a fascist state
Ain't nothing but a pyramid model of social organisation. Implies the few at the top deserve their rare success ...meritocracy...but we know fr this is a lie. What other pyramid models exist....oh ya...MLM. Society is just one big MLM scam.
I kinda agree with you tbh. I’ve pivoted to making content telling stories from my life or just little goofy skits and behind the scenes from music videos. But I’m very spotty with posting. Personally, I’ve just been posting a few things after a release that is strictly music related. Then using promote to boost it and I’ve gained a lot of followers that way. But once they follow, they have more content of me just being goofy mixed with some music. So my point is, no necessary to post daily or a million times a week. Just do what feels right and natural. You want your content to be intentional but also just you being you. People fall in love with your music then they’re gonna want to fall in love with you as a person and vice versa.
This is cool, I appreciate your input and thats a good strategy. and the philosophy behind it is solid.
I think we have yet to see an artist becoming a major, long-lasting sensation from TikTok. It's weird because it did happen with YouTubers.
Yeah, theres been a lot of artist who have made names for themselves on Tiktok, but are yet to be succesful in the eyes of the larger industry. I am interested in how that bridge can be crossed, i wonder if giving TikTok the weight we usually do helps or hurts us in that mission.
Pinkpantheress
True
what is a "major, long-lasting sensation," though? Like Taylor Swift? Because that's a pretty high bar. One band I like, Mother Mother, certainly got a gigantic bump from one of their songs randomly getting big on Tik-Tok and it resuscitated their career.
Mother Mother is a good example of Social Media being a tool and not the whole package. They've been building up for a while, they were actually on college radio in Canada for a little bit before they popped off. Also I'm seeing them this Saturday which is pretty cool.
Yeah, they had already been legit band on a label before the virality occurred. Cavetown seems to have also gotten huge(er?) returns from social media. Enjoy the show!
Cavetown already had a pretty big YouTube following though, and he got big on TikTok mostly because his songs were used as trends. He seems to be falling in popularity though sadly (also he's out of his major record deal, worth mentioning, though it might be a personal decision)
When I saw a cavetown and mother mother a few weeks ago, they had a pretty good turnout and I'm pretty sure a strong majority of the people were there for cavetown. The people were really into their stuff, singing along and all that. I think mother mother got big because of one of their songs hitting on tiktok too, for what it's worth.
Yeah they have a very strong core fanbase that is quite dedicated which is awesome!
Yeah I should have nuanced that. I'm just saying that I cannot name artists who have seen lasting success (like more than one hit) from posting on TikTok like the OP is saying. Songs going viral off of trends without the artist doing anything for that is pretty different imo.
Taylor Swift is a pretty high bar, but I guess where I'm coming from is speaking grey area in between having a few thousand monthly listeners on spotify and getting to taylor swifts position.
two different platforms. Tik Tok is way too fast and ephemeral to generate these kind of artists. On Youtube back in the day you just needed to be a great musician, on Tik Tok nowadays you need to be somewhat decent at music plus you have to be sick at content creation. I don't mean any hate, but people like Connor Price are pretty average rappers in the grand scheme of things but he specifically is a killer content creator. I watch his videos even if I'm not a fan of his music because they're just amazingly crafted. I think that "music youtubers", for a lack of better terms, back in the day were very different from Tik Tokers nowadays because most (not all, but most) Tiktokers are way better at content creation than they are at songwriting/producing.
Kim Dracula was kind of making waves in the Alt Metal scene I think but I don't really know for sure, and i believe he was straight from TT
You’re exactly right
I guess the question is, what should they be doing instead?
Well, I am not an authority at all, I have less then 100 monthly listeners on spotify, so I am not in the position to really be giving advice. I think my strategy is to post consistently until a base of listeners gets somewhat built, then once a ball gets rolling I think id probably stop posting so frequently and start focusing on letting the music speak for itself, not necessarily wipe myself off of socials, but begin posting only when I have something of value to give, coming from a place of "i have something to share" not "I need to remind everyone that I exist" EDIT: i have more to share here, I think TikTok is a tool in the artist marketing arsenal, but the vibe I am getting is that it is the means to success, which I don't think is actually true.
It seems to me that the real path to success is actually the old school way mixed with some digital marketing. I.e. play live, show your face, meet your audience in person, collect emails and phone numbers, speak to them directly as much as you can, do street level stuff, sell merch, go to events and introduce yourself... Record it all, post it on your socials. I mean, you could even get your own street team like people did back in the day.
There’s a band from Atlanta called Silly Goose that would roll up on a flatbed outside of shows and play guerilla-style til the cops showed up. Pretty sweet idea I would have loved to copy Edit: they do still make TikTok’s and do live streams and stuff. But I found out about them in the parking lot of an arena show, so that felt a lot cooler than being fed by the algorithms
There is a difference between your music being the soundtrack of some idiotic TikTok meme vs your music becoming important to someone and moving them to the point of actually becoming a real fan.
its not effective. it ends up being costly to you as a creator when you’re dividing your attention between music creation and content creation. i know a buddy of mine has a rule to post one tiktok per day to see how he can grow. he’s been going strong virtually every day since last summer, and he is constantly getting 250 views here and there. people have this very misguided and misinformed notion about social media for music. it’s helpful on occasion, but it certainly doesn’t warrant the amount of time it seems to take.
In general, I'm not against any artist who consistently posts on TikTok or Reels, as that's just more chances to have something take off. In a vacuum, I agree that it's more effective for getting attention and followers, but what you really want are actual fans who would be willing to stream your music, tell their friends about you, go to your shows and buy merch. The way I see it, if you have a goal as an artist, whether it's to make a full-time living off music and leave that shitty day job and/or impact the masses with your music, keep on posting those videos and don't worry about what people think or what others label you as. However, it's important to understand that there's more to marketing than just posting on Reels, TikTok, etc. if you're trying to build deeper fan relationships (real fans). It's great and important for building awareness (top of the funnel) but you also have to think about the fan journey and how you can get fans to develop a deeper emotional relationship with you as an artist. Of course, this can still happen through short-form videos but what's the next step for fans after they follow you on a social platform? An artist should have a marketing infrastructure that takes potential fans down a journey to become fans. Are they creating other type of content meant to engage actual fans (like BTS)? Do these "TikTok" artists even have music on DSPs? Is there a website for fans to buy merch from or sign up for an email list? Are they actually doing shows so you can track them on Bandsintown? I know the perception of the "TikTok" artist isn't great, but I don't see anything wrong if it helps you to reach your goal and you're staying true to your brand, not selling out your soul and artistic vision. Constantly posting TikToks can be a good part of your overall marketing strategy, but there's a lot more that goes into it to earn "real" fans.
As someone who's really just started out with a new project, it feels like I can't not do it. I probably don't need to be doing it constantly but I need to do something. Fact is I'm just one guy and the effort involved in learning all the editing software, algorithms, content styles etc is starting to dwarf the music creation process. I released an EP Friday just gone and that's what all my music related time has gone into and it's exhausting. Not just tiktok, thankfully I can reupload the videos to a bunch of different platforms, but I have to do what I must to get my new unknown band into the ears of people I don't know.
Yeah, I feel you, I make content for socials too, I think I'm really talking about the constant barfing of content multiple times a day, I dont think its actually as effective as people imply, theres another comment I made that is talking about my strategy personally if you care.
That's the thing, I've been recommended to barf content and I just don't have the time and patience and definitely not the feel for it (I'm in my 30's, tiktok just isn't in my blood.)
Yeah, while I'm not at all an authority on the matter. my method is that I want to come at it with the intention of "i want to share something I think is of value" instead of "I want to tell people that I exist". I hope that mindset works for me. I think its really is all about luck, and you just have to create opportunities for luck to come, you wont go viral if you dont release your music or post something, thats why you should do it, I just think the whole firehose style of blasting content out nonstop is trying to control the uncontrollable and can be a distraction, and for me it feels like im cheapening my art and I feel that way when I see artist do it as well, but thats just my unjustified opinion.
Some food for thought… During your growth phase, you’re going to lose fans far faster than when you’re an established act. Meaning that you thinking someone is “desperate” for posting 3-5x per day leads to an unfollow from you but picks up 7-10 new followers in exchange. Secondly, if you’re not bringing in money, then it shouldn’t matter how many “fans” you lose from posting on TikTok. Finally, for those that are mentioning that it takes away from your creative process: how many songs did you release last year? How many TikToks? If you’re not shipping a song every other week, you have plenty of time to create content. (And if you’re shipping a song every other week, you have plenty of opportunities for content)
every fan is just a listener first. i agree with the sentiment of what you’re saying and obviously having industry backing is gonna increase the chance of a song blowing up. My personal tiktok strategy has been to not bet on the exception. not bet on going viral. instead, just post steady content and view it ultimately as a traffic source. i don’t even care about growing my accounts, just converting some of that free traffic into listeners. it’s been somewhat effective for me.
Regardless of what ANYBODY tells you, quality is the most important factor.
I think there's three important things to think about here: 1. There will always be examples that don't follow the trend. There will always be artists who seem to have come from absolutely nowhere and have blown up without doing all this work that we are told to do 2. There are more ways to gain fans and followers than just posting regularly on social media 3. None of these methods are guaranteed to work, no matter how much effort you put in and/or how good your music is I don't know how Tommy Richman (actually I just don't know Tommy Richman) blew up. Maybe he had some contacts in the industry who were able to get his music in front of the right people. Maybe he just got lucky and posted the right thing at the right time and it blew up organically (unlikely). When it comes to this advice about posting regularly with social media, the point really is that you can't gain fans if you're invisible, so you need to make efforts to be visible. That might be with social media, or it might be through playing concerts, or it might be through having a good PR company/radio plugger/list of contacts who can help you gain some visibility. For most people, social media is the one avenue that we have easy access to, and that gives us the widest reach in terms of potential audience. It's not that you have to be doing lots of TikTok posts, it's not about TikTok or Instagram or whatever else, it's about visibility. If you get better results from playing live than you do from social media, focus on that. And yes, I get you. Sometimes you see artists making content regularly and doing so in a way that it's obviously marketing. As an artist myself I sympathise with them, but I also don't find it so engaging. It's clear to me that they are making that content for new fans, not for me, and so it actually reduces the engagement from regular fans in order to focus on new fans. Personally I think the best way to use social media is to post content that appeals to your fans - new or old. The old fans like the content I post because they are familiar with me and they like who I am and they want to connect with that, the new fans come across these posts and maybe recognise a bit of a community vibe, or they get to see this more personal version of me that they resonate with. I might still make more promo style posts every now and then, but in between I'm making sure that my social media (maybe more through stories for example) is just genuine, personal, and relatable to people who know me.
Get ears first, actual fans will follow.
That’s cause MDB had a big ads budget on tiktok, if u notice there’s certain videos which don’t have good like to view ratio enough to have the amount of views they have, that’s cause every video was then pushed as a add to have as many people as possible view the video without depending on the algorithm. Same thing they did with 4batz. He only posts TikTok’s that he can scale. Plus 9/10 times u see a TikTok song getting big with influencers dancing etc… it’s because fuel was poured on the influencer marketing space as well
I think it depends on what you’re doing in the content. Every scene, genre, era etc has artists that used all the tools available in their time to gain exposure and some of them did it in a way that was timeless and impactful and some became a laughing stock or laughably dated. For every Guns N Roses, there’s a Ratt or a Winger. If you’re on tik tok smashing pies in people faces, you’ll probably get a lot of listens and be remembered as the guy who smashed pies in peoples faces. If you’re on tik tok playing acoustic versions, explaining lyrics or writing process or giving an inside look into your life, people will probably take you more seriously as a musician in the long run