Ok, I’ll admit it: this isn’t a particularly timely article. After all, we live in a post-”Old Town Road” world. By now the power of TikTok’s music marketing potential is obvious to all of us. But up until recently, like many stubborn 20-something year olds, I just wasn’t buying it. Well I guess no one is “buying it” since TikTok is free to download. But you know what I mean. To me, the whole thing seemed a little juvenile. Sure, I liked “Old Town Road” and “Truth Hurts” and a few of the other songs that were boosted by the app, but it seemed like the non-musical aspect of TikTok’s content was aimed at teenagers. But, on the OTHER hand, I’m only 23. I feel like it’s too early for me to be complaining about these kids and their crazy shenanigans. Not to mention how much I obviously care about keeping up with trends in music.
So, after much persuading by some of my younger-at-heart friends, I finally downloaded the app last December. Since then I think I’ve opened it maybe three times? Alas, it seems I’m still out of touch. And since I’m not willing to stop using words like “alas,” my best bet for reconnecting with the zeitgeist was by bringing in my friend Kate B., one of those young-at-heart people I mentioned before. Kate just so happens to be the graphic designer behind a certain up-and-coming music blog, so believe me when I say she knows what’s hip. Read her thoughts on TikTok below.
Note: this interview has been edited for clarity, and I’ve added some color commentary here and there (which will be italicized).
LB: Tell me a little bit about yourself. How old are you? What do you do?
KB: I am Kate, NOT Kathryn, Kate, 23 years old. I call myself a graphic designer, currently I’m working in marketing for a commercial real estate firm. That doesn’t lend itself to much creativity so on the side, trying to fill that more. And yeah. I live in Atlanta.
LB: So. You’re registered to vote, you pay income taxes, you make dance videos on a lip syncing app. Are all of these statements correct?
KB: Yes.
(If you can’t tell, professionalism isn’t really my strong suit.)
LB: How long have you had TikTok, and what was the quarter-life crisis that inspired you to download it?
(See?)
KB: So I think I downloaded it in the fall. I downloaded it because I’d seen some of the videos on Twitter (popular videos get shared there). Also my sister is like… I would say I teeter between Millenial and Gen Z, and my sister definitely falls in Gen Z, so a lot of the Gen Z stuff is influenced by her and whatnot. And also it was Musical.ly before it was TikTok. And Triller was in there too. So she’s been making lip syncing/silly dance videos since when it used to be that, and then TikTok bought them. So she’s been doing it. So I knew about it. But I downloaded it mostly for like the “Vine” content. Like funny, short clips. But then the dancing and lip syncing is obviously a big part of TikTok and now I think that’s fun too.
LB: When was the first time you remember hearing about TikTok, and do you remember how/from who you heard about it?
KB: I don’t know when. I remember last Christmas, Christmas of 2018, my sister made a Triller of our family. So that was pre-TikTok. I don’t know if TikTok existed yet and they just hadn’t bought them, or if it was still its own thing, but I don’t know. Christmas of 2018 would’ve been the earliest.
LB: Who do you know that uses TikTok (both personally, and what is your impression of the general user base?)
KB: The average user I definitely think is like SOLID Gen Z kid. Person.
LB: Toss out an age.
KB: High school age. Sixteen to eighteen. I definitely know it goes younger, and I definitely know it goes older, but that’s what I think of. My sister uses it. I think the only person I know that MAKES videos is my sister. Do any of my friends have it and watch it? Not that I know of. You! But you don’t really…
LB: Strike that from the record.
KB: ...No. I think we had this conversation in my cousin group chat… and I think one of my cousins downloaded it.
LB: How old is she?
KB: 24. (She’s a teacher). She was like “I need to download it! All my kids at school talk about it.”
LB: Next question: are these questions making me seem out of touch?
KB: Well, no.. I mean yes, but like… it’s not like… I definitely know that it’s a younger generation thing. (Good save there.) Younger than me.
LB: How much time do you spend on TikTok a day/week roughly?
We ended up checking this later, and Kate spends about ten minutes a day on the app. But she doesn’t check it every day. To quote her, “It’s definitely my last-checked social media.”
LB: What kind of content do you watch on TikTok? What kind of content do you make?
KB: So it works… When you open the app, you get the For You Page. I’m sure there’s an algorithm of things that you’ve liked or viewed or whatever and things that are going viral. Also I saw on Twitter that it picks up on your location, so like things around you.
LB: So it’s a mix of general viral stuff, a mix of location based stuff, and a mix of curated stuff.
KB: And I just go through that. And then I’ll go to a person’s page. What was the question? (Clearly I’m a captivating interviewer). So I watch the content that’s on the For You page. The big dance people come up - Charli DiMaggio?
(It’s actually D’Amelio. I think Kate was confusing this teenage social media celebrity with a long-dead baseball player).
She’s 15 and has like billions of followers. It’s insane. Most of it is funny content with the dances sprinkled in. The couple that I’ve made have been the dancing videos.
At this point in the interview, Kate decided to take an impromptu break to watch TikToks. Not to fact-check any of the random numbers she’s been throwing out, not because she wanted to show me something, but because I guess I was boring her. Eventually, we got back on track.
LB: Do you pay attention to the music you hear on TikTok? Is it familiar to you, or is it music you haven’t heard elsewhere?
KB: Yes, I do pay attention to the music I hear on TikTok. Obviously, they do some songs that are on the radio right now, like popular songs but like - I learned of Doja Cat through TikTok. And… yeah, I’ve got a couple. Like “Working Bitch” that we listened to today. I got that from TikTok. But it’s nice that you can obtain the information on what the song is from TikTok. Also I follow a playlist called “Songs From TikTok” that I’ve gone through on Spotify.
LB: Do you know who made this? Like did TikTok or Spotify make it?
KB: Oh no wait! My sister made this.
(I may have interviewed the wrong sister).
LB: Any standout memes/musical moments?
KB: So the music stuff, one person will make something and then see what everyone else has made, and then you can make something from it. The dances… it’s fun seeing them evolve, like how everyone does it with their own flair. Or are copying the original content creators.
Right after this question we got slightly sidetracked discussing TikTok’s HypeHouse (a collective of young TikTok creators). It was mostly lamenting how a bunch of teenagers are way more successful than we’ll ever be. I figured I’d spare you.
LB: And my last question is: Am I cool enough to make TikToks?
KB: No. I’m not either.
While I disagree with Kate’s analysis of my coolness, I have to admit she had some good insights. My favorite thing she said was that “even if you think that [TikTok is] silly, and that you don’t understand it, doesn’t mean that it’s not a legitimate thing.” Shot at me aside, I think that’s the right way to look at TikTok and the changing music landscape in general. You can sit back and scoff all you want, but at the end of the day, it’s not about personal feelings. It’s about what’s making money. And in my book, anything that’s making artists money is a good thing.
I think it’s about time I really give TikTok a go. And who knows? Maybe one day Off Pitch will become a viral dance TikTok account. But until that day comes, thanks for continuing to tune in.
Lyle B.