Artists worldwide have been taking advantage of the massively popular social media platform, TikTok. In particular, American singer-songwriter Charlie Puth’s promotion of his new album on TikTok has drawn attention as an innovative, effective way to popularize his music. 

“I believe that one of the most outstanding and unique qualities about Charlie Puth’s music career is that he shares the music creation process with his audience,” Eileen Kim (12), avid fan of Charlie Puth, said. “He uses TikTok, one of the most commonly used apps among teenagers today, which is a great strategy. He shows how effortlessly he can come up with a song, which is surprising and fascinating.”

On Sept. 16, months before the release of his single, Puth showed how he created his new song “Light Switch” on TikTok. He showed off his musicality by mixing unique sound effects, such as sounds from the titular light switches. By filming his method of coming up with new songs and sharing them, he gave viewers an inside look into the producing process.

“These days, TikTok is not just used to popularize newly released songs, but it also became a platform where artists would provide a short glimpse of their song before the release,” Ashley Choi (11), TikTok user, said. “This excites the audience to wait until the day of release and allows them to communicate with other fans for further feedback and communication.” 

The engagement of users on TikTok has changed advertising strategies for artists worldwide.

“Social media platforms have really transformed the way that artists market themselves,” Whitney Meininger, the director of choirs and TikTok user, said. “With the exception of tours, social media has essentially replaced all other forms of marketing for artists. In the past, a huge part of signing with labels was the need for their help and money behind marketing platforms— but the rise of social media marketing has opened up unlimited possibilities for artists to promote themselves and find fame without needing to be under the umbrella of a label.”

Social media platforms such as TikTok are becoming a medium for musical artists to communicate with their audience as well. Especially during the pandemic, platforms like TikTok have become an effective way for artists to share their music and connect with fans.

“I think a wide variety of media platforms are extremely beneficial in helping musical artists’ work to surge in popularity,” Yenna Ko (11), active user of TikTok, said. “This is because a large majority of the population use such media platforms, which allows people to always be up to date with new releases of music. What is special about media platforms such as TikTok is that it categorizes and shows videos in ranking of popularity, allowing media users to know what is popular and what is not. The like count is also present, which can also highly affect the users’ opinions on a certain song.”