TikTok announced today the “Artist Account” or “shop window” for followers to see musicians’ songs, learn about upcoming releases and get an inside look into their creative process. The video-sharing app is launching a suite of new tools to enable artists to further promote their music and increase discoverability, such as a new artist tag, the ability to highlight a new release on discovery pages and more.
TikTok’s new artist tag, which appears underneath an account name, allows creators to identify themselves as artists and help them stand out among other creators. Artists must upload at least four songs to be eligible for the tag. More than 70,000 artists are already using the tag, according to the company, including Sam Smith, Luke Combs, Shakira and Meghan Trainor, among others.
Another new tool is “New Release,” which lets musicians highlight a new song for up to 14 days before and 30 days after release. A “New” tag appears next to the track. The song is also featured on discovery pages of catalog sounds, letting musicians reach more potential fans. Popular boy band BTS tested New Release over the summer to promote their single “Take Two.”
Artists are able to pin a video to the top of the sound discovery page to boost visibility, whether that be a new album release or a trending clip.
They can also use the new “Behind the Song” feature to share exclusive insights about their songs and what/who inspired them. This is similar to Spotify’s “Clips,” short videos where musicians talk about their artistic process.
Lastly, TikTok has included a music tab that automatically adds newly released songs and curates a catalog for followers to access an artist’s discography easily.
TikTok likely released Artist Accounts to take on Spotify and other music streaming services. Spotify has several promotional tools, including artist profile pages, which feature tabs for music, events and merch.
TikTok recently introduced an “Add to Music app” capability so users can quickly save TikTok songs to their Spotify, Apple Music, or Amazon Music playlists.
