At this moment, millions of Americans TikTok users are considering saying goodbye to the viral video app that has been their source of entertainment, news and community, or even income, for the past few years. The app has built empires — securing shoe brands and reality TV slots for the D’Amelio family, even launching the careers of Lil Nas X and, more recently, Benson Boone. It also accelerated the discovery and popularity of subgenres from around the world, expanding the global reach of songs ranging from Afrobeats and Mexican music to Chilean rap and k-pop.
On January 19, the Supreme Court is expected to impose it Act to Protect Americans from Foreign Adversaries’ Controlled Applicationsor legislation that would shut down the Chinese platform in the US if TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, fails to sell by then. While a last-minute bailout has been hinted at by former and President-elect Donald Trump, the loss of the platform, infinitely more so than its predecessor Vine, will create a huge gap of connectivity and revenue, affecting both its biggest and smallest beneficiaries.
Given the complexity, uncertainty and political ramifications of the situation, reps for major labels and many other music labels declined to comment, but digital music veterans agreed.
If the ban continues, “Outside of the battle for the indie community or for small creators, established artists will probably feel relieved to never have to make a TikTok again,” said digital marketing expert Claudia Villarreal, co-founder and director of creative services of digital and entertainment company FanMade. “For us, it’s an opportunity to flex our 360 marketing (skills) – because to be honest, I think the app, while it was a great shortcut to success, took some of the creativity out of a campaign. It can actually be really refreshing.”
Villarreal, along with co-founder Olivia Rudensky, has worked on campaigns for Miley Cyrus, Hailey Bieber, the People’s Choice Awards and NBC, in addition to helping promote many other brands. They met online while running their own updates or fan accounts for other celebrities and musicians, and later joined forces to use the strategies they applied as fans to music and product marketing.
At first, says Rudensky, “TikTok was about the dance challenges, the lip-sync videos — it was always meant to be for fun. Not as serious as the path Instagram was taking at the time, which was much more business and e-commerce oriented.”
Rudensky saw the opportunity for success on TikTok early in her ascension: In 2019, Cyrus appeared in the “Black Mirror” episode “Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too,” portraying a fictional pop star, Ashley O, and released original music to complement the episode, including a infectious and viral track titled “On a Roll”. In 2020, when Cyrus released “Plastic Hearts,” their approach to the app was even more innovative — “When done right, TikTok produced marketing results almost equivalent to a radio station,” says Rudensky.
“The song was hitting all kinds of different feeds, and it had an instant reach that no other social media platform had at the time. That’s when the record companies started tuning in. Miley didn’t want to go on TikTok and promote the song with a dance or a lip sync, so we built on the momentum by just having (Cyrus) comments on TikToks.”
While for half a decade TikTok has been the dominant platform for unknown or independent artists to be discovered, big brands may think about the ban differently. Not only is the platform a threat to more traditional gatekeepers (which the majors may find easier to control), its negotiations over royalties, piracy and AI have become tense in recent months. From the labels’ perspective, signing a license agreement with the app offers more than what is required, while TikTok has consistently argued that the average music consumer does not go to the platform to consume music as they would on a DSP. When Universal Music Group pulled its catalog from the app last March in an effort to seek higher pay for its artists, negotiations were largely based on TikTok’s argument that its 30-second or one-minute clips were used passively and therefore shouldn’t pay the same speed as a streaming service like Spotify.
Despite TikTok’s purported efforts to crack down on piracy, there is still a large amount of unlicensed music on the platform – lo-fi, slower and reverbed remixes often escape detection – pushing the boundaries of traditional music marketing strategies. This is all due to its addictive algorithm, designed to circulate content most likely to engage users based on their everyday interactions on the app (even taking into account their gender and what ads they see). That algorithm, arguably more than anything else, is what has allowed TikTok to remain so dominant in the music world and beyond.
While many expect less dedicated TikTok users to migrate to Instagram Reels or YouTube if the ban goes ahead, it’s unlikely those platforms will be able to capture the same level of buzz — at least not right away.
“No one is asking, ‘What are we doing on YouTube?’ No one is asking, ‘What are we doing on Instagram?'” says Villarreal. travel to Instagram, to X and beyond. Without it, everyone will have to rethink their digital marketing campaigns. You have to be proficient in all the apps to get the kind of results you would get if you were just using TikTok.”
And even if the platform is actually banned, “Millions still believe TikTok will be back,” Villarreal and Rudensky conclude. “This may not be the end of the app.”
