TikTok has one billion global monthly active users worldwide. This app has an extreme amount of power and influence. Many artists have who have been discovered through the app have been met with extreme success (i.e. Doja Cat’s “Say So” and Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road”).

Labels have caught on to the power the app could have over consumers due to the abundance of new trends that seem to spawn each week.

As a result of this, the music industry has adapted to this new form of content. This has negatively impacted the way artists release music.

In 2020, pop star Halsey posted a TikTok expressing their frustration with their label saying they wouldn’t let Halsey release a single unless they and their team could fake a TikTok viral moment.

“I’ve been in this industry for 8 years and sold over 165 million records.” They explain further that “everything is marketing” and this situation is happening to many other artists.

After this post ironically went viral, there was much discussion on whether this was ethical or not, and what effects TikTok has over the music industry. Their label posted an open apology to Halsey explaining they were committed to their artist and stood in support of the singer.

Halsey ultimately parted ways with their label the following year.

One artist who got hit quite aggressively by the downfalls of the virality of TikTok is Ariana Grande.  According to Grande, the 90s-inspired song, which fans dubbed “Fantasize”, was written for a comedy sketch about a girl group. The song was never meant to be on any of her projects.

Grande asked fans to please stop spreading leaks even calling it “disheartening.”  Grande’s wishes were not granted, as the leak currently has over 89.8 thousand videos under the audio, as well as being illegally posted to Spotify under the name “Adriana Venti.”

The Spotify track reached over 70 thousand streams before being taken down by Grande’s legal team.