For about ten years now, there has been a significant increase in the number of music-streaming platforms. The emergence of these platforms has also revolutionized the music business. The algorithms these platforms use have also changed the way we discover and listen to music.

Now, the platform not only is becoming a powerful TikTok promotion tool, but the dramatic surge of it is set to introduce a new collaborative vision for the future of music as well. In addition, the modifications we are seeing in the music industry today might be heralds for the future of other media industries also.

Algorithmic Consumption Commodities Music

To completely understand the impact of TikTok on the music industry, one has to begin with where the industry is at the moment. Now that music-streaming platforms have been dominating the music industry for about a decade, the growing influence of the algorithm of these platforms over the discovery and consumption of music has been a subject of increasing study and interest.

Now, people have access to millions of songs and find it difficult to choose what to listen to, and all these are mostly moderated by entrusting our music discovery to recommendations by algorithms and curated playlists. Because of this, there is an emergence of an intriguing paradox: as we now get more personalized playlists, our taste of music somehow progresses to feel less personal.

The Beginning of Streaming Era

Before the era of streaming, music discovery was based on word-of-mouth recommendations and mass media (such as MTV and radio). However, today, subscription-based access has now taken over music ownership, and this helps to reduce the additional effort and cost needed to create a personal music collection.

Almost all recorded music across the glove has become the default music library for everyone, and this encourages casual listening and exploration. The only thing you own is your playlist, and it is personally created for you, yet influenced by algorithms significantly.

This wearing out of personal agency and stakes in the consumption of music has made music more like a digital commodity and less an aspect of our personal identities. The democratized access to millions of music pioneered by streaming platforms is the cause of music commodification.

Shifting the Point of Monetization to Accessing Live Music

The major source of revenue for the music industry is now touring, as music festivals and concerts provide the audience with a real experience that digital music cannot provide. The COVID-19 outbreak has also put the economy on hold, and this has given the music industry more incentive to find a way to distribute live performances digitally.

For instance, Spotify is purportedly adding a “virtual event” feature to its platform to notify fans of imminent virtual shows and to allow them to purchase tickets. Some artists have switched to platforms such as Patreon to provide exclusive content for their fans for a monthly subscription. Such direct monetization means are still in the infant stages of development. However, they provide an insight into the future where it is possible to sell live music with a hybrid model.