Musicians are sick of their label’s TikTok pressure

Future. Top artists sound the alarm on the growing pressure they feel from their labels to go viral on TikTok. While TikTok has become important to the music industry, labels may need to ease the burden on artists by giving them the support they need to make content for the platform… otherwise, it may detract from the already hard work of actually being a musician.

Viral virus
Even some of the biggest musicians in the world are over keeping up with TikTok.

• Fast Company reports that Halsey, Charli XCX, FKA Twigs, and Florence Welch have all made TikTok videos about how much their labels are pushing them to find a way to go viral on the platform.
• The mandate from labels is that they either make music that has a better chance of catching on as a trend or to post on the platform a lot more.

Halsey’s claim is the most eyebrow-raising: their label wants them to wait on releasing a single so that they can “make a fake viral moment on TikTok” for it. Ironically, that TikTok video already has amassed over eight million views… so there’s your viral moment, Astralwerks (Halsey’s label).

Burnout, baby, burnout
This isn’t the first time musicians have called out how hard keeping up on the platform has become, with many (Post Malone, Ryan Tedder, Chelsea Cutler) saying that the marketing itself is becoming just as much work as actually making music. This is especially hardest on artists that aren’t big enough to have their own dedicated digital teams.

Still, artists like Miley Cyrus, Tiësto, and Demi Lovato have all leaned into TikTok and its creator class to push their music to new heights. They may feel the same burnout, but each musician’s story only underlines how vital the platform has become for not just debuting music but giving it the best chance to make a cultural imprint. Making that happen may just now be more than a full-time job.