Reggae And Dancehall Music Streaming Billions On TikTok

TikTok is the 7th most used social media network in the world and Reggae/Dancehall music is the 7th most used genre on the platform as revealed in a music report by TikTok recently.

TikTok has over 689 million active users and in their 2020 music year-in-review report, they revealed that more than 176 different songs surpassed 1 billion streams including Shaggy and Conkorah’s remix of Banana.

TikTok is now indisputably a reliable predictor of hits in multiple genres of music. Five of the songs first discovered on there due to user-generated videos went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

What’s even more convincing is the speed at which songs are racking up views in the tens of millions.

The remix of Conkarah and Shaggy’s Banana jumped 250 thousand views within a day.

Presently, Laa Lee has a viral challenge with his song Tip Innnah It streamed almost 13 million times with users making over 14 thousand videos doing the #tipinnahitchallnege at a rate of over 500 thousand streams per day. Compared to YouTube where the David Island and Everton Gentles music video for the same song only has three million views since December 2020.

Reggae-Dancehall music is not climbing as fast as Hip Hop which is the number one genre on TikTok. Last year Drake’s Toosie Slide, generated a billion views in just three days, and WAP by Cardi B & Megan Thee Stallion did the same in just two weeks.

Although Hip Hop is the dominant genre with over 50 percent consumption, Music editorial lead at TikTok William Groger told Variety Magazine that, “There is also a list of  ‘Unexpected Hits and Niche Discoveries’, where by TikTok’s community helped shape internet and IRL culture with these unearthed gems.”
Another highlight from report is that more than 70 artists have broken into the industry on TikTok with major record label deals.

In speaking to Frankie Music who has responsibility to market Tip Innah It by Laa Lee he said,  “the dance came out before the song then Lala Lee put the likkle youth in the video and that’s how the two things connect.”

The “Likkle Youth” being a young sensation who developed the now-viral dance that can be seen performed by influencers, celebrities, and other people from all over the world. Some of the more popular user-generated videos done by fans are made on trains, malls, hotels, bedrooms, and airports all over the world.

Although not always the case, many of the successful songs on TikTok can be as a result of artists who use the platform to lead trends said William Gruger to Variety Magazine, “A major common factor among artists who broke and received deals from their activity on TikTok is that they are major users of the platform as well. These artists are engaged with their TikTok followers, leaning into trends on the platform and building relationships with audiences who support their music. Star examples of this include 24kGoldn who earned his first #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, Flo Milli’s breakout ‘May I,’ which inspired 1.3M creates, and Panama native Latin superstar Sech, who has over 1.7M followers earned from his frequent reaction duets and charming dance moves.”

With the vast majority of users under 30, last July TikTok announced a 200 million Creator’s Fund as a way to support creators. They said creators will start to receive an amount for their engagement on the platform monthly. They did not define the requirements to qualify, however some creators have reported income of $0.02-$0.04 per 100 views (RPM). Unlike YouTube, TikTok pays rights holders and artists based on the number of videos that use the music and not by the number of streams.

Advertising Exec and former record label executive Steve Stoute said on the Earn Your Leisure Podcast recently that, “Really what you want is TikTok to be the place where you promote the song and then if you could go ‘you like that?’ you can listen to the full length song on Apple Music and one of these streaming platforms”.

TikTok is available in over 200 countries but the streaming giant has experienced many geopolitical setbacks with governments from major markets either banning or regulating its wide-scale use. It is not available in China but its sister app Doujin which does pretty much the same thing has 600 million users. Last June, TikTok was banned in India as it was on track to record 120 million users in that country. The app was almost banned in the United States and is not available in Hong Kong, and at least three more countries.

LifeSpan surpassed 15 billion impressions in less than a month according to Google Trends. The almost 100-year-old drink company became the talk of the world when TikTok creator Nathan Apodaca @420doggface208 casually drank a cran-raspberry drink on his way to work. After becoming famous due to the video, The Miami Herald reported that “Nathan “DoggFace” Apodoca is selling his iconic video as an NFT, or non-fungible token, in an auction starting Friday, his manager told McClatchy News”.

Since then other companies have encouraged workers to post videos to TikTok while at work.