Afrobeats taps TikTok for music marketing
Tiktok, a short-form video social media platform with over 1 billion monthly viewership, has become a new channel where record labels, music marketers, artists, and other creators in Nigeria invest their marketing budgets with the goal of amassing huge fan attention for their music.
It has developed into an essential promotional tool for musicians and record labels, serving as a forum for the popularisation of songs in the Nigerian market.
The popular song ‘Know You’ by Ladipoe caught the attention of people with the #duetchallenge that garnered over 45 million views, opening the door for digital strategists that required innovative concepts to increase engagement.
CKay’s ‘Love Nwantiti’ attained its viral smash status with the aid of a viral TikTok challenge that has now seen the song rack up 15 billion views worldwide.
Simi did the same, revealing her pregnancy in the music video ‘Duduke’ and launching a challenge for expectant mothers which received millions of views.
The most recent ones are ‘Buga’ by Kizz Daniel and ‘Little’ by Tenientertainer, currently trending on Tiktok with the dance challenge capturing people’s attention.
TikTok has given rise to a wave of musicians looking to gain exposure for their music through entertaining challenges that result in streams since users look for these well-liked songs on streaming services.
According to a brand finance report, TikTok has been named the world’s fastest-growing brand with an astounding 215 percent growth from $18.7 billion in 2021 to $59.0 billion in 2022.
With the recent launch of the TikTok Marketing Partners Program, six new international partners were introduced, including Sound AEYL Music, Squeak E. Clean Studios, Level Two Music, Butter Music Sound, Marmoset, and Jackleg.
These partners will help level up the brand’s sound-on strategy by creating or licensing trending tracks, developing a sonic identity, and more.
“Tiktok has grown in popularity as a tool for record labels and musicians to promote their work. Even if a song has been out of the mainstream for a long time, it may suddenly ascend to the top of the app.
Music marketers will also pay influencers to promote a song, resulting in a flood of user-generated content from fans. Some musicians will schedule personal listening sessions with Tikok influencers in the hopes of increasing the popularity of their latest songs on the platform,” said Perekeme Omoh, film/music director and production designer.
Tiktok has become one of the product and service promoters, as it includes different tactics like influencer marketing, advertising and creating organic viral content. It has also helped to build and increase brand awareness.
Music executive and founder of Party Monkz Entertainment, Oyinda Olukanni, claims that Tiktok is a platform that rose to prominence during the pandemic and progressively evolved from being a platform to a complete music marketing platform.
“Tiktok is transforming the music industry in two ways: as a tool for music marketing and promotion and as a discovery and scouting app. It is used in marketing to create content with the catchy part of the song that will attract listeners, and it is used in discovery to allow content creators to search for the song and make a video with it in order to become a viral sensation. Songs that trend on TikTok frequently end up at the top of charts like the Billboard 100 or Spotify Viral 50,” he added.
Young content creators have since taken over the app, blowing off large video sharing platforms like Youtube and Instagram to become TikTok influencers with high value in the music market at the moment.
Dance routines and fun challenges spring up daily from every corner of the social platform and this has become a major source of income for these young creators, as music marketers pay them to help the songs take off and spark up organic posts from fans.
“Tiktok has created a space for another type of income where content creators are paid by record labels or artists for simply creating a dancing video or a skit with the song in order for it to go viral, which is one of the reasons people want to become content creators,” said Ogheneovo French, an influencer.
