TikTok is introducing a new way for musicians on the platform to promote their music — this time through a video series.
The series, called “Off the Record,” is produced by TikTok and features musical artists like Shakira, Charli XCX, and Meghan Trainor. The short clips are similar to series like Song Exploder or The New York Times’ “Diary of a Song,” where artists talk about their inspiration behind songs, the writing and recording process, and more. The videos — some of which have already gone live — are shared by artists over the course of June.
TikTok also announced a hub on the app where Off the Record videos live. Users can find the page by searching for #OfftheRecord.
“Off the Record is part of TikTok’s continued efforts to support artists at all points of their journey and deepen the connection between artists and fans, which is only possible on TikTok,” the company wrote in a blog post.
TikTok has so thoroughly reshaped the music industry that there’s even a Billboard chart tracking the most popular songs on the platform. The platform has created new stars, reignited the careers of established musicians, and birthed a subgenre of music that feels engineered to go viral on the platform.
But the music industry’s relationship with TikTok has been rocky at times. Like with other streaming platforms, including Spotify, artists and labels have said that compensation is inadequate for the artists that make the music soundtracking billions of TikTok videos. In the age of powerful artificial intelligence tools, deepfake voices resembling famous musicians have flooded online platforms, and in many cases, artists don’t have control over their AI doubles. On TikTok, the friction reached a boiling point in February, when Universal Music Group — which represents artists like Taylor Swift and Drake — began taking down its catalog as licensing negotiations with TikTok stalled. The two parties reached a new deal in May, saying “protecting human creativity” was a shared goal.
In recent months, TikTok has introduced features that are more obviously promotional for musicians. A set of themed photo frames and “challenges” that rolled out for the release of Swift’s newest album, for example, came in the midst of UMG and TikTok’s fight, and Swift’s music returned to the platform before an official deal had been announced. The new TikTok-branded interview series is an extension of this: another marketing opportunity for two codependent industries.
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