I disagree. I’ve personally been introduced to a lot of music through Tiktok. I think the fact that you can click on a sound (a “sound” is the song that gets p

I disagree. I’ve personally been introduced to a lot of music through Tiktok. I think the fact that you can click on a sound (a “sound” is the song that gets played in the background of a video) and see the top posts from other people using that sound is interesting and unlike anything else. It lets users get a profile of the type of person who typically likes a given song. I also think that many people underestimate (or at least don’t talk about) how much of music is about cultural signaling. Tiktok serves this function well, especially for young people who want to appear ahead of the curve (god forbid someone accuses them of being “basic”), and so they want everyone to know that they’re listening to the next artist before everyone else. Also if it even needed to be said, popularity as a sound on tiktok directly translates to plays on streaming services. Songs with very little attention will suddenly blow up to millions of plays after going big on tiktok. This, to me, clearly suggests that tiktok is more valuable to artists than just being “ad space.”