Ban or no ban, TikTok’s partners in the music and advertising world plan to stick with the massively popular short-form video platform until the bitter end, seven industry leaders told Reuters.
The US Senate passed a bill late on Tuesday (Apr 23) that gives Chinese tech firm ByteDance up to a year to divest TikTok or the app will be banned altogether. President Joe Biden has signalled he would sign the bill, capping a four-year battle over concerns the Chinese government could influence content or access user data.
TikTok has rivalled larger companies such as Meta Platforms for user attention and ad budgets, and its cultural power is reflected in its ability to catapult emerging artists into viral hits, changing how young people discover music.
As long as TikTok’s users remain engaged with the app, “advertisers will ride it all the way until the door slams shut,” said Craig Atkinson, CEO of digital marketing agency Code3.
Adam Miguest, CEO and founder of Rapid Launch Media, which creates marketing campaigns designed to make songs go viral, said he will advise clients to stay on TikTok as long as they can.
Even Universal Music, whose artists’ songs disappeared from TikTok in March as licensing talks stalled, has resumed negotiations in recent weeks, according to two people close to the discussions. The talks reflect the realization that, whatever the outcome of the legislative process, TikTok is not going away tomorrow, one of the sources said. Universal declined to comment.
The app’s importance is also underscored by how superstar Taylor Swift, a Universal artist, defied her label by putting her music back on TikTok just weeks later.
“I think we have to look and ask, why did Taylor Swift do that? Even she recognizes the power that TikTok yields,” said Johnny Cloherty, CEO of Songfluencer, a creative marketing firm that has worked with artists like Dolly Parton and Miranda Lambert.
