TikTok has become a hub for music discovery in every genres, but it has proven to be one of the best ways to get some hype for independent projects. Getting your music noticed on TikTok is no easy feat, but there are some key trends that you can follow to boost your music on this platform. Here are some key tips on how to get your music noticed on TikTok.
Upload Your Music To TikTok
Before you can get your music noticed on TikTok, you have to upload the tracks onto the app. If you’ve already released your music, the distributor you work with should’ve already taken care of distributing to TikTok. Still, double check with your distributor to ensure your music is available. If you’re sitting on something new or in progress, you can upload the song as an original sound. Then, just change the sound’s title to reflect your artist name and song title. You can do this by clicking on your profile picture in the bottom right corner.
Key Methods of Promoting Music on TikTok
Now that your music is in the TikTok library, you’re ready to start getting your music noticed. We’re going to cover a couple of key methods that can help boost your streams.
Find Your Niche
For musicians, this is easy! Your niche is music. With TikTok’s insanely sensitive algorithm, any videos not related to music may confuse it. Therefore, it’s very important to stay within your niche in order for the algorithm to favor you. When posting content, remember to mix it up a little while remaining within boundaries. This could mean posting behind-the-scenes, songwriting, performances, and more.
Use Hashtags
Just like any other social media platform, TikTok loves to see hashtags in the caption. Because TikTok is a community, posting under certain hashtags makes you discoverable in these mini-niches. This allows the algorithm to sort out the videos and show them to an audience they believe would enjoy your videos. You can also mix in a couple of general hashtags such as #indiemusician to still appeal to any individual on the platform.
Create Engaging and Shareable Content
When you’re thinking about creating content to go along with your music, think: is it engaging? Is it shareable? TikTok, as we mentioned before, is a community. Make videos that encourage people to comment and share with their friends. Give them the ability to respond to you through video replies, duets, stitches, and challenges. You want to give people a chance to be creative and put their own unique twist. The videos your post should help people get to know you and your brand. To do this, you can show your beat making progress, your home studio, a short tutorial, or the story behind a song.
Keep It Short
As attention spans deteriorate, it may be more favorable to post shorter videos for more reasons than just TikTok’s algorithm. So, when the algorithm sees your video ending or being replayed, it will see it as a valuable piece of content and push it out to more people. And what has a better chance of being watched until the end – a 60-second video or a 10-second one? Obviously, prioritize sharing valuable content first, but keep this tip in mind when preparing to share content.
The most optimal duration for TikTok’s music content is 15 seconds long. This means the short clip you choose should be broad, catchy and relatable enough for users to create their own content around it. So, study your track hard and narrow down the 15 seconds that have the highest potential of going viral. Consider things like catchy lyrics or rhythms that can lead to a short, popular, and easy dance routine. Don’t forget about your back catalog! Looking back, you might find something viable you hadn’t seen before.
Final Tip
Getting your music noticed on TikTok can seem like a huge leap, but simply following some of these tips could possibly help launch your career! It’s working so far – it could work for you.
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