L
Similar to many other artists, Ryan Guldemond, the lead singer of Canadian indie group Mother Mother, had a particularly uneventful year in 2020. However, as the year came to a close, he noticed a sudden surge in streams for songs from the band’s 2008 album O My Heart. This caught his attention as the numbers continued to rise each day. After investigation, it was discovered that the spike in popularity could be attributed to TikTok, a social media platform that Guldemond was unfamiliar with. He was surprised to find a whole new community of people appreciating Mother Mother’s older songs.
In 2008, Guldemond explained that Mother Mother struggled to gain popularity internationally or have their music played on the radio. This was often attributed to the “Canadian curse”, where artists find success in Canada but struggle to break into the global market. They became accustomed to working at a smaller scale. However, with the help of TikTok, their monthly listeners on Spotify have now reached 8 million – almost double that of their more acclaimed Canadian counterparts, Arcade Fire. Their song Hayloft, which tells a peculiar story of rural violence, has garnered over 400 million streams – surpassing even popular songs by REM like Losing My Religion. In February, after performing for only 350 people at London’s 100 Club five years ago, Mother Mother will now headline the 12,500-capacity Wembley Arena.
TikTok operates as its own unique country, with its own way of doing things. The platform’s popularity has resulted in unexpected success for older songs, such as Miguel’s 2011 single “Sure Thing” reaching the UK Top 10 years after its release. It has also turned lesser-known songs like Edison Lighthouse’s “Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Grows)” into a staple for Generation Z, and boosted the popularity of the once-niche band Duster to surpass even well-known bands like Sonic Youth and Pavement in monthly listeners. The reasons for this phenomenon remain a mystery.
TikTok plays a crucial role in the marketing strategy of record labels, however, it is impossible to deliberately create viral success. This has challenged long-held beliefs in the music industry about what makes a song successful. For more mature artists who may not be part of TikTok’s main audience, having a song go viral can be a pleasant and unexpected surprise. How does it feel to suddenly gain attention on TikTok, and how can you capitalize on this unexpected opportunity to revive your career?
In the summer of 2022, Jarrod Gosling and Dean Honer from I Monster noticed a surge in popularity for their 2004 EP track “Who Is She?” It was surpassing their only Top 40 hit, “Daydream in Blue.” They discovered that the song was gaining traction on TikTok, thanks to popular influencers like Charli D’Amelio and Kim Kardashian. Despite not knowing about these influencers before, Gosling and Honer were surprised to see their song being used in makeover videos and fan edits from the Netflix show “Wednesday.” The dark and eerie vibe of the song, which samples from a Hammer horror film, seemed to be a perfect fit for these types of videos. As a result, the duo now has more monthly Spotify listeners than popular bands like Wolf Alice, Björk, and The Stone Roses. Gosling admits that “Who Is She?” was never intended to be a single as there was no interest in it at the time. However, after 20 years, it has found success with a whole new generation of listeners.
Daniel Hunt, a member of the electro-pop group Ladytron, shares a similar experience of witnessing their 2002 hit “Seventeen” surpass their long-standing streaming champion “Destroy Everything You Touch”. According to Hunt, the song had not been performed in the band’s setlist for quite some time until it unexpectedly rose to the top 10 of the viral charts. It was an eerie feeling for Hunt, as the song’s old record cover would be seen next to newer artists like Little Simz, creating a sense of displacement in time. As the synth-pop sound of “Seventeen” has become more commonplace in music, thanks to artists like The Weeknd, many listeners assumed it was a recent release. Hunt observes that this new audience lacks a sense of chronology and instead immerses themselves in the constant flow of instant everything.
Tim Rice-Oxley of Keane is a typical “traditional father figure” in terms of internet culture. He was oblivious to the resurgence of the band’s first single, Somewhere Only We Know, until they performed at music festivals last summer. Despite not being too old themselves, the band has been together for over two decades and has noticed their audience aging alongside them. However, during recent performances, they noticed a significant increase in younger audience members. This prompted Rice-Oxley to inquire about the sudden change and he was informed about the popularity of TikTok.
It could be argued that Somewhere Only We Know did not require any additional support. It was already a huge hit and a popular performance choice, even before Lily Allen covered it for the 2013 John Lewis Christmas advert. However, it has only recently reached the prestigious milestone of over 1 billion streams on Spotify. “The growth has been incredibly rapid and significant,” marvels Rice-Oxley. “A few years ago, we had a few songs that were equally popular as crowd favorites. But this one has taken on a life of its own that the other songs do not possess. It has become a universally recognized song.”
Exploring TikTok for the first time, Rice-Oxley found pleasure in the many bedroom cover versions but was puzzled by the trend of increasing the speed of the original recording. “It’s confusing,” he confesses. “I’m not sure if it makes the song more upbeat or if people just want to rush through it.” He sounds a bit shocked. “Perhaps they believe it’s an improvement.”
TikTok’s music preference is practical: popular songs often gain popularity when associated with a specific style or message. As a result, they can take on entirely new meanings through the collective mind. For instance, Mother Mother’s “Hayloft” has become a declaration of identity for trans and non-binary users, while Tom Odell’s 2013 hit “Another Love” has become a de facto anthem of resistance in countries like Ukraine and Iran. Hunt discovered that Seventeen’s satirical take on the fashion world (“They only want you when you’re 17 / When you’re 21, you’re no fun”) struck a chord with young women on TikTok. While some videos were lighthearted, many delved into darker themes and personal experiences of being 21. Hunt and his team realized that this content was not intended for them, but rather for the young women themselves.
TikTok pays out to rights holders based on the number of videos that use a song rather than the popularity of individual videos, so the more creativity you inspire, the more money you stand to make. I Monster’s Honer, whose song features in around 56,000 videos, says of his TikTok earnings: “It’s not a life-changing amount of money but it’s a decent wedge.”
In the future, significant financial gains can occur when TikTok popularity leads to increased streams on other platforms and more prestigious opportunities for live performances. While most TikTok users may not explore an artist’s full body of work beyond their viral hit, a small percentage of the millions of new listeners can still make a significant impact as genuine fans. Even after almost two decades since their last live performance, I Monster has been receiving offers from booking agents. They have also re-released their album “Who Is She?” with new mixes and have been motivated to create a new album. Honer jokes that their next single will be titled “Who Is He?”
Sometimes, it can be difficult to determine how to take advantage of the success on TikTok. Despite having over 2 billion streams on Spotify for “Another Love,” Tom Odell only recently made a return to the Top 40 with his single “Black Friday,” his first time back since 2016. However, even though Miguel’s single “Sure Thing” went viral on TikTok, none of his subsequent singles have achieved the same level of success.
Ladytron’s Hunt recalled that the label requested for us to create videos expressing gratitude with the phrase, “Hey guys, thanks a lot!” However, we questioned the necessity of getting involved in this unique and wonderful phenomenon. We chose to let it progress naturally. Later on, some prominent labels expressed interest in obtaining the rights to the song, but we declined as we did not want to actively promote a record that was two decades old. Our focus was on our new record.
The band Mother Mother openly acknowledged the revival of their song Hayloft by creating a sequel, Hayloft II, which has since inspired 56,000 videos. Lead singer Guldemond jokes, “It may seem like a corporate idea, but it was actually my own bad idea. I saw it as a great creative experiment. The song tells a story and it felt like it needed to be continued.” More importantly, the success of their album O My Heart has restored the band’s confidence in their artistic abilities. Guldemond explains, “That album was where we felt most authentic, free from the influence of the music industry. The fact that people connected with our music encouraged us to return to our true selves.”
If you were to inquire an artist about the process of their song going viral, they would likely respond with a variation of William Goldman’s saying about Hollywood: nobody truly knows the answer. Just as I Monster does not comprehend how D’Amelio came to discover “Who Is She?”, Keane’s Rice-Oxley also struggles to understand the sudden popularity of “Somewhere Only We Know” in Indonesia. While his ego may lead him to believe it is a great song that resonates with people, he cannot fathom how it gained such immense traction. He mentions that someone is probably investigating the reason behind its success.
Reworded:
In the past 15-20 years, these artists were dependent on radio and MTV gatekeepers and had to conform to their beliefs about what songs would be successful. However, on TikTok, a hit can come from any source. Guldemond states that this can be seen as a positive change, but without gatekeepers and set formulas, it can lead to chaos. As a result of being fortunate enough to receive this “TikTok gift,” we can view it as liberating. However, for new artists who are putting their work out into the vastness of the internet, it can be overwhelming.
In 2019, if he had predicted that Hayloft would gain popularity on TikTok, would anyone have believed him? He replies, “No, not at that time.” However, he now believes that people are open to the idea of anything becoming a sensation on TikTok.
Source: theguardian.com
