TikTok advice

For Musicians
#1

Been asked by lots of musicians recently about how best to use TikTok and been saving these explainers, so thought I would share a few to kick off this thread

Most musicians have misunderstood the assignment of social media

A digest of all the TikTok tips

  • use Green Screen
  • change location
  • use cuts for energy
  • lighting is important
  • get a cheap sticky back phone case if you don’t have a stand
  • open with a 3-5 second hook (think newspaper headline, throwing out a fact/opinion or asking a question you’re found to answer)

If you’re doing a piece to camera talking video, save the solution to the end

  • be sure to introduce yourself to add credibility
  • consider your call to action at the end
  • cut out the pauses

Ideas for making 15 videos around one song

You don’t always need to follow the same format: try making a point, describing your point and summing up with some analysis

Musicians have always have always had to self promote and now you can craft your own narrative

How the algorithm works and how to hack it

How to improve your lighting

It’s not about viral songs. It’s about sharing your vibe and energy (maaaan). Just do it

Thought this was a nice example of a ‘how I make music / work in progress’ video that any musician could make

How to search to see what’s working in your nitch, I mean niche

How to think differently about TikTok and Insta

Recent changes to the algorithm mean you should focus on “original content” rather than trending audio

This account is a great example of how to promote a playlist

Or you could just hire this company :exploding_head:

And this isn’t a tip but how lush is this account?!

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#2

Do people who’s potential fans aren’t (for the most part) 10-20 year olds use Tiktok to ‘promote’ (“don’t use it to promote!”) their music?

I have no experience of/interest in using it, and must admit that I assumed it’s for tweens/teens.

The idea of people having to make personal content to promote their music to defeat the Tiktok algorithms makes my skin crawl, assuming that the beard-man in the video is correct about that…

to clarify; I’m not knocking it! I have no idea about Tiktok, just wondered

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#3

TikTok actually has a huge range of audience, very much not just teens and tweens — sure it might skew a bit young, but there are a LOT of people of all ages on there. The algorithm tends to show you content it thinks you’d like, so as a man in my early thirties, it mostly shows me videos of other people in their 20s-30s, so much so that it’s super jarring when anyone younger pops up.

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#4

I rarely see anyone under 30 in my feed. Just looked and interesting to see the demographic

“42% of users aged 30-49.”

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#5

They’ve released a handbook

#6

Quickly becoming the home of music discovery… it’s hard to imagine the UK music community without it.

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#7

Reminds me of when I went to see Molchat Doma November last year. Venue upgrade to a 350 cap venue, was surprised but whatever. Gig was sold out, I’d say the majority of the audience was under 25? I found out after they’d had a song used on TikTok and they’re just madly popular now (good for them cos they’re ace).

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