TikTok’s growing influence

Tik Tok, the app with 15 to 60-second videos helped change the world and music industry. Using  the app’s algorithm, a snippet of a person’s song can reach millions of people in a day. A few  songs that TikTok helped promote are “Fingers Crossed” by Lauren Spencer Smith and  “Driver’s License” by Oliva Rodrigo.  

Lauren Spencer Smith posted a video of her singing her original song about an ex-boyfriend  called “Fingers Crossed”. After about 25 million views on the Tik Tok of her singing, people  begged for the full version to be released. Smith released it on Spotify in early January, and it  already has 32 million streams and is in the top 20 globally. Without Tik Tok, the song may not  have affected so many people.  

Another song that TikTok helped go viral is “Driver’s License” by Oliva Rodrigo, the 17-year old Disney actor and singer-songwriter, who wrote and performed songs for the show “High  School Musical: The Musical: The Series”. Rodrigo posted a clip of her singing her original song  “Driver’s License” on Instagram and fans took it to Tik Tok. In turn, Tik Tok helped the song  Driver’s License to the place it is today and increase her audience tenfold  Considering the sheer volume of TikToks over a million users and hundreds of thousands of  influencers, one can see the potential exposure for underground musicians. A few artists that  started out on TikTok but have become mainstream are: Tate McRae and Lil Nas X. Tik Tok  trends help spread music that were previously released but now are receiving recognition  because of TikTok. A few songs are “Prom Queen” released in 2018, but became more  mainstream in 2020 because of Tik Tok. Another one is “Break My Stride” which was released  in 1983, but became the background of a Tik Tok trend in 2020, exposing the song to a whole  new generation. 

Tik Tok, with the help of the influencers, helped change the music industry by promoting songs  to the public that would have never got to the top of the charts. A seemingly normal app was  able to change something important to people for years. From boosting new songs and new  artists, to bringing back old songs and spreading it to a new generation that would not know it  otherwise, Tik Tok looks to change the music industry for the better.