Marketing / 01.19.22

The Awesome Power of TikTok for Touring: New Social Media Giant Paves the Way to the Road

Access Staff

Pollstar (01/13/22) Gensler, Andy

TikTok is proving crucial to the careers of musical performers, and can even drive ticket sales. In the platform's year-end 2021 Music Report, TikTok Global Head of Music's Ole Obermann wrote that last year "over one billion people turned to TikTok to be entertained, find and share their joy with others, and learn new things." TikTok stars face the challenge of cultivating support from unpredictable fans who must notice, like, share, and sometimes produce and enhance posts. "There are account analytics and song analytics that artists, managers, and labels have access to that allow the industry to take [a] deeper dive into what's resonating and what's not," according to TikTok's Editorial Lead William Gruger. "These insights are actioned upon quite a bit allowing artists and their teams to hone their content strategy and grow their communities on the platform." Gruger added that the difficulty of converting social media success into a touring career has lessened, which means "the strength of the connection between the fanbase and the artist that TikTok facilitates allows that shared rapport to translate into live touring." TikTok is also proving to be a incredibly successful tool for selling tickets, with performers incorporating links in their bio to their preferred ticketing platform. Gruger mentions that Olivia Rodrigo "teased out her tour on TikTok doing a re-creation of throwing pens into a cup trend that was popular at the time. If you landed a pen into a cup, the thing that you say is true. She announced her tour that way."

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Tags: Music , Social Media , News , Marketing