​

going viral

​read in browser ​

Hey! It’s Grammys week in LA. I’m excited to see some familiar and new faces over the next few days.

Will Beyonce finally win Album of the Year? I would love to see Renaissance win but this awards show is hard to predict. Don’t be surprised if the oddsmakers favorites don’t line up with the actual winners.

Today’s memo is about what it takes to blow up on TikTok. That answer has changed a lot since 2020. On this week’s Trapital Podcast, I broke it all down with my friend Sean “BrandMan” Taylor, whose ContraBrand Agency has analyzed what works and what doesn’t. Let’s dive in.

Was this forwarded to you?

want your company featured in Trapital?

We are looking for a few more sponsors in Q1 and Q2 who want to reach the artists, creators, and execs who read and listen to Trapital on a regular basis. Want your company to reach Trapital's audience? Reach out to us here.

it’s not too late to start on TikTok

How does a song break through on TikTok when it’s harder than ever to gain traction? According to ContraBrand’s latest report, the answer is artist-generated content (AGC).

Not influencer posts. Not your fans posting. Not paid ads. The most effective way to grow is when the artists posts themselves.

Sean “BrandMan” Taylor’s agency analyzed the top TikTok hits from 200+ artists from 20 different countries, and found that 35% of them blew up by posting their own videos.

This is music to the ears of record labels that have pushed artists to be more active on the short-form platform, but it likely sounds like nails on a chalkboard for artists who have resisted TikTok. Halsey, Florence Welch, Charli XCX, and others have voiced their frustration of their labels pushing them to create on TikTok.

you don’t need to dance

But a lot of that hesitation stems from the perception of TikTok’s viral dances. Sure, those were effective during TikTok’s hyper-growth phase in 2019 and 2020, but the platform has matured since then. The app has a billion monthly active users. Most of them could care less about the next viral dance.

This is the pattern that new technology follows. Early resistance stems from the early perception of the medium. In the early 90s, Mariah Carey made comments about MTV that sounded similar to the TikTok hesitation we hear today. A few years later, she went on to make some of the most iconic music videos of the decade. They didn’t try to imitate Madonna, they made it their own. The same is true for TikTok. The platform is bigger than a viral dance challenge.

Here are Sean’s thoughts on this:

TikTok’s return back to Earth

Every hyper-growth social media app eventually slows down growth and goes to a steadier pace. TikTok’s downloads are declining. This was inevitable.

Marketers who cleaned up during the hypergrowth phase have become frustrated. I’ve heard complaints both publicly and privately from A-List artists who are frustrated at the slow down. But the slow down is all relative.

Part of why TikTok is slowing down is because copycat products are ramping up. Instagram has tried, and yet to succeed, at making its news feed into a For Your Page. YouTube just went live with its Shorts monetization program. Still, Sean says TikTok’s competitive advantage over competitors is its in-app culture.

In our full podcast conversation, we talked even more about:

• how IG Reels and YouTube Shorts stack up
• TikTok as a marketing funnel
• examples of artists who have done well

Listen to our full conversation here:

Hope you enjoyed this memo. If so, please share. Forward this email to someone who should read it. Text it to a friend. Drop the link in the group chat.

Share on Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook. Or copy and paste the link below.

​https://trapital.co/2023/02/02/why-its-not-too-late-to-start-on-tiktok/​

money moves

• MUSIC invests $25M+ in LVRN, which is now valued at $100M+​
• Spotify ends Q4’22 with 205M subs, $12.4B revenue​
• Hockey jerseys are back in hip-hop. Will the NHL get it right this time?​

enjoy Trapital? share it with a friend

Tell them to sign up. I'll send them next Monday's memo. Hit the link below to share:

Or share Trapital quick via text, email, or Twitter.​

coming soon from Trapital

Podcast: The Super Bowl Halftime Show. How the show has evolved, how has Roc Nation done, what to expect from Apple Music, Rihanna, and more. I was joined by Pop Pantheon podcast host, DJ Louie XIV. Drops next Thursday!

​