CD Baby is distributing Barry’s music to TikTok, the popular video platform.
What is TikTok? It’s a place where fans can create fun viral videos using music, in this case Barry’s music. Imagine a social video app that combines Snapchat, Instagram Stories, and the now-defunct Vine. TikTok has 500+ million active users and it’s growing fast all over the world, especially in huge markets like the US and India. Almost half of those active users are between 16-24, so TikTok has become the go-to app for Gen Z; it’s a place where younger creators are breaking ground and shaping trends in music, comedy, and culture.
Videos that go viral on TikTok tend to emphasise: Community collaboration through #duets and other hashtag challenges. Humor, pranks, or stunts. Dancing. An authentic vibe instead of something polished or perfect. Imitating other popular videos, films, or TV shows. Short how-to videos. Travel, lifestyle and pets. Going behind-the-scenes with musicians, sports figures, and other celebrities. A whole lot of lip-syncing.
That last part is really important to TikTok culture, which makes sense since TikTok grew out of the lip-sync app Musical.ly.
Because TikTok videos are short, unpolished, and have the potential to inspire viral collaboration, it’s not about the SONG so much as a MOMENT in the song — a musical hook that suggests something visual.
That’s exciting for a few reasons:
Content can be produced quicker (no need to create professional, long-form music videos).
The perfect moment for a TikTok video might be found in a song that was released years ago.
There might be a number of ways to pair video concepts with a song hook; in the age of short-form video, there’s no such thing as too much content.
TikTok is a place where songs, videos, and personality collide in really strange and interesting ways. That’s why CD Baby is excited to deliver Barry’s songs to TikTok, a platform connecting his music to people around the world.