TikTok’s newest function for musicians is a shiny video collection

TikTok is introducing a brand new method for musicians on the platform to advertise their music — this time by a video collection.

The collection, referred to as “Off the Report,” is produced by TikTok and options musical artists like Shakira, Charli XCX, and Meghan Trainor. The quick clips are just like collection like Music Exploder or The New York Occasions’ “Diary of a Music,” the place artists speak about their inspiration behind songs, the writing and recording course of, and extra. The movies — a few of which have already gone reside — are shared by artists over the course of June.

TikTok additionally introduced a hub on the app the place Off the Report movies reside. Customers can discover the web page by trying to find #OfftheRecord.

“Off the Report is a part of TikTok’s continued efforts to assist artists in any respect factors of their journey and deepen the connection between artists and followers, which is barely attainable on TikTok,” the corporate wrote in a weblog put up.

TikTok has so totally reshaped the music business that there’s even a Billboard chart monitoring the most well-liked songs on the platform. The platform has created new stars, reignited the careers of established musicians, and birthed a subgenre of music that feels engineered to go viral on the platform.

However the music business’s relationship with TikTok has been rocky at occasions. Like with different streaming platforms, together with Spotify, artists and labels have stated that compensation is insufficient for the artists that make the music soundtracking billions of TikTok movies. Within the age of highly effective synthetic intelligence instruments, deepfake voices resembling well-known musicians have flooded on-line platforms, and in lots of instances, artists don’t have management over their AI doubles. On TikTok, the friction reached a boiling level in February, when Common Music Group — which represents artists like Taylor Swift and Drake — started taking down its catalog as licensing negotiations with TikTok stalled. The 2 events reached a brand new deal in Could, saying “defending human creativity” was a shared aim.

In latest months, TikTok has launched options which can be extra clearly promotional for musicians. A set of themed picture frames and “challenges” that rolled out for the discharge of Swift’s latest album, for instance, got here within the midst of UMG and TikTok’s struggle, and Swift’s music returned to the platform earlier than an official deal had been introduced. The brand new TikTok-branded interview collection is an extension of this: one other advertising alternative for 2 codependent industries.