Where do you get your music from? Where do you find new songs to listen to? Well for me, I pretty much get all my music from TikTok. I know, it sounds ridiculous and embarrassing, but my perfectly curated For You Page has allowed me to find new and interesting sounds to listen to. It’s the reason why I found some of my favourite songs like “oh my love”, by FKA Twigs or “Doctor, My Eyes”, by Khamari. Copying your music taste from Tiktok is something that many people are shamed for. It makes sense though! This is an app that you spend lots of time on frequently and every video you watch has music in the background. 

 

         Most artists that have become popular with younger generations got their boost from Tiktok. Think Ice Spice, Olivia Rodrigo, and even older artists like Fleetwood Mac and Blood Orange. A huge example of a stereotypical “TikTok artist” much to his own dismay, is Tommy Richman, best known for his 2024 hit “Million Dollar Baby”. The song blew up on Tiktok in April of 2024 and currently has 9.1 million videos under the sound and over 1 billion listens on the music platform, Spotify. Within a week of Richman’s original post with the sound, the song was everywhere. You couldn’t scroll on Tiktok without hearing it at least once. From there the radio picked it up and everyone knew who Tommy Richman was. All because of Tiktok. But he didn’t like this, going so far as to post on social media platform, X, saying “I’m not no f***** tik tok artist”. Fans were shocked and disappointed considering Tiktok is the only reason people know his name and coincidentally his music began to fall off. His videos went from millions of views to only a couple thousand, and his songs are now considered boring and uninteresting. Tiktok’s influence on the music industry is undeniable, but it’s also a double-edged sword. It provides a platform for artists to go viral and gain exposure, but can also ruin artists' careers and quickly make their music “overrated”. Tommy Richman’s case perfectly illustrates this. Artists are beginning to realize that while Tiktok is a great way to become famous overnight, fans move on quickly and your music is left with stigma, being associated with embarrassment. 

         For listeners, discovering music on TikTok often comes with its own challenges. Tiktok is taking away your favourite so-called “hidden artists” and putting them on the big screen for everyone to see. Suddenly, your unique and niche favourite song is everyone’s favourite song and you hear it so much that you start to hate not only the song, but the other people listening to it. This cycle continues and slowly you start to hate any popular song and the people who make them popular. Is this fair though? Music creates connection and when you shame someone else for the music they listen to, you ruin a part of that connection. At the end of the day, music is meant to be shared and enjoyed, no matter how it’s discovered. Whether it’s through TikTok, a random Spotify playlist, or a recommendation from a friend, the beauty of music is the fact that it brings people together. Instead of focusing on where someone finds their music, we all should be open to others’ interest and be respectful, no matter the song. After all, isn’t that what music is all about?