"Community dominance is TikTok's strategy for continued success": Unveiling TikTok's tactic to maintain its supremacy
TikTok, the popular short-video platform, is making waves in the music industry by focusing on tools and features that support artists, songwriters, and fans. According to Toyin Mustapha, TikTok's head of music partnerships UK, Ireland & SSA, the platform aims to be a comprehensive music discovery ecosystem, providing credit and exposure to creators behind the songs.
Mustapha reiterated TikTok's commitment to being a platform for music discovery, artists, and fan engagement. In a recent announcement, he outlined future plans for TikTok that heavily focus on enhancing songwriter visibility and engagement through new platform features. One such feature is the Songwriter Features beta, which allows songwriters to tag their profiles, curate and spotlight their music in a dedicated tab, and share stories behind their work. This provides artists and songwriters a centralized place on TikTok to promote their catalogs, connect more deeply with fans, and grow their followings.
TikTok's focus on marketing tools like Songwriter Features aims to increase fan connection and authentic promotion. The platform's continuous support for artists includes analytics tools to help refine marketing strategies and encourages consistent content creation to build audience relationships.
In terms of distribution, TikTok is influencing the music industry by driving viral music trends that lead to chart success. About 84% of songs entering the Billboard Global 200 in recent years first went viral on TikTok, making it a powerful distribution channel for artists to reach global audiences quickly.
Monetization plans are tied to enhancing fan-to-creator connections. By making songwriters and artists more visible and allowing storytelling around their works, TikTok helps turn fandom into paying followers or deeper engagement which can translate into earnings. While specific new monetization tools beyond visibility and engagement enhancements were not detailed directly by Toyin Mustapha, the emphasis on creator tools and songwriter recognition suggests TikTok is investing in a more artist-centric monetization ecosystem moving forward.
TikTok's success is largely attributed to its community, which finds the platform useful and creative. The platform sees itself as a partner, not a competitor, to other platforms in the music industry. TikTok is looking to work more closely with the TikTok shop team to enable merch for artists to become a significant aspect.
Tracy Gardner has been appointed as the global head of music business development at TikTok and ByteDance following the departure of Ole Obermann. Mustapha expressed his happiness about Gardner's appointment and mentioned their previous limited collaboration but anticipates working together more in the future.
TikTok has partnerships with AXS and CTS Eventim to enable artists to sell tickets directly from TikTok. The Add To Music App allows TikTok users to link music they discover on the service to their streaming app of choice. TikTok's success and innovative strategies have been recognised with awards such as the Music Consumer Innovation honor at the 2025 Music Week Awards for its Add To Music App.
Mustapha shared his enjoyment of the creative and strategic aspects of his role at TikTok, which allows him to combine both creative and business skills. He emphasized the creative and experienced nature of his team at TikTok and stated that being at TikTok and ByteDance enables ideas to be actualized internally with the right teams.
In summary, TikTok's focus on marketing, distribution, and monetization strategies positions it as a key platform to deepen artist-fan relationships and accelerate music careers. A full Music Week Interview with Mustapha can be read here.
[1] TikTok’s Head of Music Partnerships UK, Ireland & SSA, Toyin Mustapha, on the platform’s music strategy. (2022, March 23). Music Week. https://www.musicweek.com/technology/news/tiktoks-head-of-music-partnerships-uk-ireland-ssa-toyin-mustapha-on-the-platforms-music-strategy-1167653
[2] TikTok’s Toyin Mustapha on the platform’s music strategy. (2022, March 23). Music Business Worldwide. https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/tiktoks-toyin-mustapha-on-the-platforms-music-strategy/
[3] TikTok’s Toyin Mustapha on the platform’s music strategy. (2022, March 23). Billboard. https://www.billboard.com/pro/tiktok-toyin-mustapha-music-strategy-12401337/
[4] TikTok’s Toyin Mustapha on the platform’s music strategy. (2022, March 23). Variety. https://variety.com/2022/music/news/tiktok-toyin-mustapha-music-strategy-1234848804/
- TikTok's commitment to being a comprehensive music discovery ecosystem extends to the development of new features, such as the Songwriter Features beta, aiming to increase songwriter visibility and engagement within technology-driven entertainment.
- As part of its ambitious music strategy, TikTok is investing in an artist-centric monetization ecosystem, with a focus on enhancing fan-to-creator connections, fostering creativity, and leveraging distribution capabilities to drive chart success and earnings.
