In recent years, TikTok has successfully dominated the attention spans of billions of dopamine-hungry minds from all over the world.
We open the app the minute we wake up. We watch content while we eat, and TikToks are an easy way to “decompress” when we get home from a long day at work. If this sounds like you, don’t worry, you’re not alone.
Here are some stats:
- Since 2016, TikTok has been rapidly growing in popularity, with over one billion active users monthly.
- Over one billion TikTok videos are watched every single day.
- On average, TikTok users will spend a total of (nearly) 23 days on the app, annually.
Surely this is no surprise. Our collective addiction to the little computer in our pocket has made a major impact on the way our world operates.
While we could go down the rabbit hole of “How has TikTok (and its social media opponents – Youtube Shorts and Instagram Reels) negatively/positively impacted society”, that could turn into a never-ending conversation. So instead, my question is:
How TikTok Has Effected The Global EDM Scene?
The music, producers, the community, and the culture have all been affected in some capacity, whether that be in positive or negative ways.
The Music Industry
The ways in which TikTok, Reels, and Shorts have positively affected the music industry are vast.
Artists nowadays can become a star overnight from just one video. A great example of this is Southstar, whose remix of Oliver Tree’s “Miss You” track exploded in the summer of 2022, with over 550K videos on TikTok and over 33 million streams on Spotify at the time of writing.
Numerous TikTok sounds end up charting on the Billboard 100 and Spotify Charts as well. Which is due in part to quality but also partly due to algorithms.
The TikTok algorithm is widely known as this mysterious thing that everyone knows about but no one really understands. It is apparent that the algorithm (and thus the users) favour authentic, real content.
People love to watch people… REAL people… talk about their lives, their work, and their thoughts. Some of the most famous people on the app generate content that would mimic a FaceTime conversation with a friend.
This provides producers with a platform to interact with their audience in a more genuine way, thus forming a more loyal and engaged fan base. Two artists that have really utilized TikTok as a tool this way are ALLEYCVT and Crankdat.
ALLEYCVT
In an interview with EDM Maniac, ALLEYCVT opened up about some of the ways TikTok has been a critical tool in her career thus far. Not only is her music fun and refreshing, but her personality alone is something to fall in love with, which makes her perfect for the TikTok audience.
“It has been an awesome tool to showcase my personality to my audience,” says ALLEYCVT.
She, like many other young producers, struggles with perfectionism. Almost finished tunes remain unreleased because the track isn’t quite there yet. The fear of failure leaves new producers paralyzed, stuck in the perpetual cycle of tweaking, mixing, mastering and tweaking again.
She attributes a lot of her success to the unpolished, casual style of video that TikTok is known for. After posting a quick video breaking down one of her unfinished tunes, she quickly grew her fan base.
“One day I just decided to post a clip of my tune on TikTok and people loved it. If it wasn’t for TikTok I would just be sitting on my tunes forever,” says ALLEYCVT.
Crankdat
Crankdat, also known as Christian Smith, says TikTok has changed the trajectory of his career.
It seems that there are polarized opinions on TikTok; some people love the app, and others despise it. Of course, the app acquired the reputation of being “young” and “cringe” early on when it was more widely being used by the younger generation. Although, in recent years the app has grown in value, to become a very powerful marketing and educational tool.
Initially, Christian was hesitant about using TikTok to market his music:
“I used to hate the idea of TikTok but at the end of the day we are musicians, yes… but we are trying to run businesses with that music. If you’re running a business, you cannot be naive and blindly turn your back on something… which I was doing,” Smith says.
In 2022, Smith and his marketing team began to think of ways to break into TikTok. They landed on the idea to create fun, quick-cut, remix videos, which was easy for him to start with his extensive experience remixing.
Surely if you have used social media in the last six months you have seen one of these highly entertaining videos.
“If you’re going to make something you have to catch somebody’s attention within the first few seconds. It’s really easy to get this content out to more people than just your following,” Smith explains.
Though there are positive impacts coming from these apps, one can not ignore the fact that there are negative aspects as well.
Today, more than ever before, there are insane amounts of pressure on artists to remain relevant. People’s attention spans are dwindling, the shelf life of new music is getting shorter, and the industry is increasingly saturated. Artists nowadays have to wear many hats: producer, content creator, social media manager… the list goes on.
“It is a lot of pressure and it can be overwhelming. But I try not to make a big deal out of it. I don’t go into a day planning out my content, I just sort of do it,” says ALLEYCVT.
“The challenge is the frequency at which you have to produce this content in order to continue to foster this relationship with your fans.” – Smith highlights.
In addition to the pressure of remaining relevant, many producers can get caught in the loop of “producing for the algorithm”. This can lead to a lack of individuality among new artists. The algorithm favours certain types of “attention-grabbing” audios that go viral.
Unfortunately, this encourages “groupthink” over free thought – popular music is, and always has been democratic. People will not invest their time into something they don’t like, but what people like is often what is charting.
Mind you, this is not new. There has always been popular music, and there has always been more obscure music. Variety is the spice of life! Before social media, there were music TV stations like MTV and Much Music that promoted popular music, and before that was the radio. Artists would wait to get noticed or slowly gain popularity organically.
Nowadays, artists can completely bypass the waiting period. Short-form media has intensified this “groupthink” with the allure of going viral. This constant drive to create that one viral track that will catapult you into fame can strip the creative, individualistic touch that makes artists stand out.
The Community and Culture
PLUR is dead.
Or at least that’s what the internet has been saying these days.
To get a better insight into how active members in this community feel, we asked some creators in the rave niche about their opinions on integrating TikTok and other video platforms into raving.
On one side, the EDM community is growing rapidly with the advent of short-form video content. People who have never even heard of a rave can view a video during their daily scrolling and the whole EDM world will open up to them.
“Ravers can build connections with like-minded people online. Plus, people are able to learn more about the community than ever before,” says Adrianne Phi, EDM Maniac Social Media Content Specialist and Project Manager
On the flipside, the attention the rave scene is getting may not be a positive thing.
There are a lot of accusations that this influx of new ravers who discovered the culture through these videos is coming into the scene for the wrong reasons, or simply without understanding the values upon which the community is built.
“Social media is at the fingertips of millions. So when we share our festival experiences it catches the eyes of newcomers and veterans! The impact on the community itself is based on your perspective,” says Tatum Bell, Content Creator
With the increased interest in our “counter-culture”, many are worried that the scene has been overly commercialized. What used to be a scene comprised of illegal warehouse raves, has turned into overcrowded events with $600 tickets as the norm.
“Unfortunately, while we’re putting these amazing moments online in such short form, sometimes our message gets lost and it draws a party-focused crowd of people who are there for the wrong reasons,” says Jules Sperazzo, EDM Maniac Content Creator
At the end of the day, creators will always contribute to this cycle of uploading their experiences and sharing the scene with the world.
In my opinion, I think it is naive and silly to try to “gatekeep” raving. Our world is more connected than it ever has been before, and now we have the tool to share something that we love with others.
Although this comes with the responsibility of sharing important information like substance safety, and how to be respectful to others when attending events.
“Complaining that growth is hurting the scene doesn’t really help the matter, rather I look at this as a positive thing and it can create great opportunities for the scene we’re a part of,” says Adrianna Cimona, Rave Content Creator and Life Coach
Conclusion
So yes, TikTok has changed the EDM scene. Whether it’s for the positive or the negative really comes to each individual’s perspective.
Producers are able to promote their music on a more personal level, reaching a wider audience than ever before. This comes with the hurdles of learning content creation and juggling workloads more than ever.
While the allure of going viral is imminent, hopefully individuality will stand out as our community settles into this new world.
The EDM scene is also more accessible than ever. People from all walks of life can catch a glimpse of what our community has to offer. Creators in this area hold the responsibility of sharing more than just ‘highlight reels’.
Creators can use TikTok as an incredible tool to bring people together and make the world a better place. They just have to hold themselves accountable.
Photo credit in order of appearance: EDC LV website, ALLEY CVT Instagram, Crankdat Instagram, EDC LV photo by Keiki-Lani Knudsen, EDC LV website
